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JULIAN 



COUNT DE CONSIEGRA 



OR, 



THE LAST OF THE VISIGOTHS. 



TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 



By A. HOLLENDER. 



TRANSLATIONS RESERVEDXcv'?' 



Moj/fMrsTCi^ 






PRESS OF 

THE CHEROUNY PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. 

J7-27 Vandewater Street, New York. 

I 890, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, m the year 1890, by 

Dr. A. HoLLENDER, San Francisco, Cal., 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



s^? 



TO MY BROTHER, 

FRED. HOLLENDER, 

DEDICATED IN BROTHERLY AFFECTION 
BY THE AUTHOR, 

Dr. A. HOLLENDER. 



^4 



DRAMATIS PERSONS. 



Roderick, King of the Visigoths 

Oppas, Prince Archbishop, Brother of Witiza 

Julian de Consiegra, ...... Count of Ceuta 

Orlandez ) 

' V Sons of Witiza, the late King of Spain, Nephews of Oppas 

Romano, Prior of CauHc Friars 

_~, ' r ..... - Courtiers and Counselors 

Delator, ) 

MORAVIUS, Baron of the Realm 

Septus, Servant of Julian 

Arminius, \ 

FiscA, j- Generals of the Goths 

LOTAN, ) 

Ulphilas, -------- Bishop of the Goths 

MusA Ibn Nosseyr, Commander of Saracens 

Tarick Ibn Zeygad, ) ^ , ^ ,- 

„ 'I .... . Generals of Saracens 

Hassan, \ 

Ahmed, General and Son of Musa 

Egilona, Queen and Wife of Roderick 

Agnes, Daughter of Julian 

Generals, Chiefs, Saracens, Citizens, Ladies of Court, etc. 



TIME— 711 P. Ch. N. 



PLACES 



ACT I. 


Scenes i and 2 — Toledo. 




" 3 and 4 — ^Julian's Residence. 


ACT II. 


Toledo. 


ACT III. 


Algesiras. 


ACT IV. 


Scene i— Toledo. 




" 2— Tent Scene. 




" 3 and 4— Near Aquilas, on the Banks of the Guadeleta. 


ACT V. 


On the Plains of Aquilas, on the Banks of the 




River Guadeleta. 



ACT I. 

SCENE I. 

King Roderick, Prince Oppas, Romano, Count 
Bovis Edeco, Magnates of Church and 
State ; Queen, Courtiers, Soldiers, Etc. 



The house of Herailes in the background. A pageant 
to Council. 



Oppas. 
Man's destiny to shield from desecration 
Because in kindness the Gods have so ordained 
That Fate shall shrouded stand afar from gaze. 
It meets thy godlike duty well, my liege, 
In custom with the kings who ruled before thee. 
To place a lock upon the house of Hercules, 
A token to transgressors of thy intent 
To set these halls apart from sacrilege. 

Now hear their sacred, hear their mythic story : 
When Heracles, the Grecian mythic hero, 
Entered in Spain upon his second errand. 
He rested weary upon yonder heights — 
They e'en to-day are called his lofty pillars ; 
And when, stretching his limbs, he rose from all- 
Refreshing slumber and from these heights above 
He scanned these lands below, he stood amazed ; 
He sought afar the ends of paradise : 



8 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

The wantonness of Nature, depicted throughout ; 

The vines' green sheltering to the bluish grape 

As birds will shield their soft and new-born offspring 

From northern winds, admitting but the sun ; 

The golden glitter of ripened wheat contrasting 

With juicy green of ever-nourished meadows 

Losing themselves in a darker tint of forest, 

Which, brooks and rivers, encircling, fertilize ; 

Here as a scanty, silvery-tinted ribbon 

Meandering, half lost, then reappearing, 

While there its widened breadth is a guarding goal 

In dark to interlay these many colors. 

Lest they should mingle to spoil this grand precision ; 

Whilst overhead the bright cerulean sky. 

Which mountains, with their snow-crowned diadems, 

Upstretching, hold, like massive porphyr-pillars. 

Full high, majestic aim, as if to shield 

These lands from sudden and destructive downfall. 

Then entered into this wanderer's soul the longing 

To taste, to enjoy a long-deserved rest, 

And turn to quiet pursuits his godly mind. 

Ready to act, he singled out a spot 

Which to his mind appeared this heaven's centre. 

Constructed in his might these vast-extorted halls, 

Intertwining at once the artist's cultured taste 

With all the brutal force of the Centaurs', — 

These twins of ever-warring human nature, — 

And, harmonized, they marshalled to his bidding. 

But as oft the heavens so serene beam forth 

That hardly a cloud could soil their deepened blue. 

They brightly glare in summer's heated day ; 

And yet a tempest neareth unawares. 



ACT I: SCENE I. \ 

Yea, thundering forth almighty challenge curses, 

Enrobes the celestial blue in inky darkness. 

Thus fastened on Hercules the Furies 

Of restlessness their ne'er-detaching fangs. 

Envious of his rest — for abortive to their gain — 

They dragged his mind from sweet and balmy sleep. 

He left his pleasures, all his joys, behind ; 

He laid reluctant hold of his wandering staff. 

To roam again. 

Before he parted, though. 
He overlooked once more his late retreat : 
Sweet recollections meet his every glance ; 
Then gratitude — this often slumbering passion — 
Awakened at this sight ; it bade him strongly. 
Well worthy of these deep-impressed joys, 
To leave to Spain, on parting now forever, 
An everlasting token of his kindness. 
Upon the inner walls of this abode, whilst 
His godlike eye beheld the vista of Fate, 
And scanning the doom of even unborn nations. 
Keeping his eyes thus riveted, he carved 
With hand unguided, though omniscient 
The Destiny of then primeval Spain, 
Which fated are to her till end of Time. 
A dragon well preserved this sacred secret. 
But then, when Christendom shed its pervading light 
Upon this beautiful and heathen soil 
And tottering fell the pagan Gods in ruins, 
Then killed a sainted knight, Caulus by name. 
The vicious monster, with his benighted sword. 
Essayed these halls, bereft of all defense. 
But when he learned, through vision's holy voice, 



10 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

The meaning of these mute yet knowing halls, 
Then founded he of celibate monks an order, 
Whose only oath and holy discipline : 
"To guard this miracle from desecration," 
Provided thy support shall ease their task. 
Romano leads this Caulic brotherhood ; 
A worthy edgestone of our Christian faith ; 
A nobly trusted man, ready for noble deeds ; 
A champion of his God and of his Church. 

( To Romano^ 
Deliver the King the message which you bear. 

Romano. 
Illustrious King, most sacred, royal liege. 
May the grace of God All-merciful surround thee. 
Be true to thy ancestors, to thy issue. 
As actual patron of our Holy Church, 
And lay this lock, symbolic of thy wish. 
Upon these doors, to guard our mystic home 
Against all impious and prying wretches ! 

King. 
May it be known to you all here assembled. 
That I am willed to enter into this house, 
To tread these halls, where ne'er in bygone times 
Echoed the tread of feet of the unlearned. 
I'll learn the destiny of what I hold. 
Or prove the nothingness by which the Church 
With mystic rites surrounds her emptiness. 

Romano. 
Beware ! — The last of his race is he, 
Who, sacrilegious at heart, enters these halls ! 



ACT I: SCENE I. 11 

SOLIS. 
Forbear, my liege, to act so hastily. 

King. 
I'll alter not my once determined purpose ; 
My royal will is guided by my duty. 

Romano. 
Wilt thou not listen to thy better self, 
But, trespassing, fall into the hands of God > 
Then fall, trespasser ! The wrath of God shall smite 

thee. 
The curse of the Church shall wreck thee on those 

reefs 
Which, vicious at heart, thou hid'st for her destruction. 
She shall unbind the oath which binds thy subjects 

King {interrupts). 
Cast out this maddened fool — know but thy age 

Shields thee 

{Soldiers come to take him^ 

Romano. 
Thrice cursed be thou, behold : 

Thou and thy race 

{Soldiers try to drag him out ; speaking to them.) 
Yea. him shall also strike 
The all-perverting anathema of the Church, 
Who does thy bidding. 

{Soldiers leave him.) 

Thy mighty kingdom crumble 
Beneath thee and thy kindred. Death, wild with 
gore 



12 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

King. 

Foolhardy lunatic, lay hold of thy tongue, 

Or by Saint Alarick, I'll tear it from ye. 
(Soldiers carry off Romano.) 

Now shall it be our well directed office 

To learn the Destiny which does as well 

Unite our country's welfare to our own. 

( The King and all assembled rise ; the house of Hercules 
moves towards the front ; Delator enters with work- 
men ; all exit hit Solis and some workmen.) 

SOLIS. 

Go thus far, not farther ! Dangerous is the path 

Which thou, my lord, too hastily hast chosen ; 

Of honor less will its sprouting germ mature. 

You might regret it at a later day. 

The priesthood's hatred, thy people's superstition. 

Which ever serves as a handy tool to thee. 

Will persecute thee with neither rest nor mercy. 

A nation's fancy, if kept in saintly favor. 

Is to the king the curb by which he sways it ; 

But if thou utterly deniest this fact, and. 

Like a philosophic master, strivest to raise 

The common herd above their common level, 

And dost platonically maim this aid. 

Then strewest thou,with thine own hand, rebellious seed 

Whose early fruit must be thy fall — thy death. 

King. 

Do not by halves what you once undertake !. 
Too far has carried me my royal spirit. 
That I halfway could stop and now reflect. 



ACT I: SCENE 1. 13 

Even if I would, such thoughts could not endure 

My kingly temper : it is against my grain, 

Against the past experience of my life. 

Although thou holdest forth to me this warning, 

Whose counsel often checked my passionate flight 

And influenced me ever for my best. 

Ha ! I will show this cunning priesthood that 

A royal mind and purest motives dare 

To pluck this hypocritic veil of nonsense 

Away from their face and expose their common features. 

( To the worktnen.) 
Can skill not open it, then use main force ! 
Lo, it is open ! See, all my pompous luggage 
Has left me, thou alone stayedst faithful 
Near to thy master. Now follow, I will lead ! 
{Kmg and Solis enter. Citizens and workmen collect in 
front of housed 

First Citizen. 
How can such impious deed conclude, my brethren? 

Another. 
Evil must spring from this his sacrilege ! 
We all of us will surely bear its fruit. 

Another. 
See, there, on yonder rock alights an eagle, 
The emblem of the powerful constructor. 
He carries Jove's thunder in his claws. 
Roderick, beware ! — he is not an angel of peace. 

First Citizen. 
Hark ; the thunder ! the house ; it is in flames ! 
Lightning has struck Jove's once beloved temple. 



14 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Third Citizen. 
Woe to us all ! he drags — this impious king — 
Through mere audacity and sportive whim, 
His loyal subjects into fiery doom. 

First Citizen. 
Accursed art thou, blasphemer of thy God, 
{King and So/is enter from the biiilding. King stag- 
gering and agitated, supported by So lis.) 
Who thinkst that holy truth conceals but a lie ; 
Who sacrificeth us to God's revenge ! 

Third Citizen. 

There, look — how pale ; he trembles now with fear. 

Where is his former pride, his mockery ! 

The wrath of heaven destroyed it — alas, too late ! 

Our curses on thee. 

All. 

Accursed heretic ! 
{All exit towards background ; the house of Hercules 
burns down gradually.) 

SOLIS. 
Be manly, Roderick, king of the mighty Goth, 
You've challenged Destiny to daring battle ; 
Now cover your retreat — a hero still. 

King. 
The Saracen had overcome my Goths, 
The Crescent overpowering the Cross, • 
Our churches desecrated, turned to mosques, 
The Moor the heir ordained to fill my throne. 
Destined to sway the fortunes of my Spain } 



ACT I: SCENE I. 15 



SOLIS. 



Seem not so overcome unto your people, 
Who judge by your distorted features only 
The punishment of God, which, to their mind, 
Must follow such an act. Compose thyself; 
Show courage — and thou thyself wilt find it. 
'Twas nothing but a sham by priests concocted. 

King (recovei'-s suddenly his self-possession). 

By Alarick ! this shall not come to pass ! — 
Infernal death to those who played this horror. 
Aye, should they assault me now in closed ranks, 
To the winds I'll scatter them like withered leaves. 
Yet am I king — I'm master still of Spain. 

SOLIS. 

Let violence not sway thy dooming hands ; 
And list to my advice, matured by age : 
You only multiply this present evil. 
If punishment yet follows in its trail, 
An avalanche on yonder mountain starts, 
Conceived but as a tiny, trifling speck 
Severed from drifted snow by bugle's blast, 
Which, downward rolling, masses till it then 
Destruction hurls on valleys down below. 

King. 

Well shall I turn this counsel in my mind. 
But now keep thee aloof — too much advice 
Will hasten oft what it intends to curb. 

CURTAIN. 



16 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

SCENE II. 
{King in a pe^isive mood. Delator enters^ 

Delator. 
As after every thunderstorm and rain 
The meadows deck in dark and luscious green, 
The heavens laugh again in wanton joy, 
As if no clouds had ever palled their blue : 
They do at once dispel the heavy mists 
Which Nature's gloom infected within our minds. 
Thus pleasure may, like heaven's brightest sunshine, 
Which gives to flinty hearts a joyful spark. 
May it pervade and lift this naughty grudge 
Which blinded fortune threw thee unawares. 
Ne^r full of minstrelsy to Venus' temple. 
Whose main support is but a single column. 
The love of woman for title and intrigue. 
This reigns supreme in all our mortal angels 
Indeed the semblance hiding, but experience, 
This tutor ever-wise, he points to this 
The hidden spring of all their daily doings. 

King. 
Whence do you drive ; be short for once. Delator ? 

Delator. 
When yester-eve Sol bent his tired steps 
Towards his rosy bed, the darker shades 
Of twilight hov'ring o'er mount and dale. 
Enrobing Earth within her gown of slumber. 
Then brought a servant to my house a letter. 
From whence it came my busy mind falls short. 
But I will read it, to please thy noted fancy. 



ACT I: SCENE II. 17 

" Knowest thou the fairest maid of far-famed Spain 

From the eternal snow of the Pyreneans 

Down to the wavy shores of e'er-blooming myrtle, 

Whom even the Gods could envy for her beauty, 

Whose simple mind is modesty itself? 

Didst ever thou see a mountain torrent sparkle 

In its unwilling fall, here and there swaying off 

The shining threads from the darker maternal volume, 

Which harboring hold a sunny, airy tremor. 

Whilst summer breezes kiss their graceful flow ? 

Thus falls her auburn hair. But fifteen summers 

Fostered these locks of thick, palpable waves 

And formed their color fairy-like and sparkling: 

As phosphorescent billows effervesce. 

Sparkle at night, give forth the light of day. 

This beauty waving down in its full length 

Surrounds the priceless maid in a golden shower. 

Hugging its fair possessor in deep embrace 

And overhangs a lovely moulded face, 

Whose alabaster forehead, delicate. 

Yet large, imprints the kiss of beauty upon talent. 

The eyebrows wreath it gracefully and dark. 

Shaped like a Cupid's bow in look and nature. 

Can they not frown alike the bow contracts ; 

Do they not bear those blue and glittering darts. 

The lovely eyes, the heads of Cupid's shafts ; 

And dreadful looks the anger which awaits thee. 

But when extended they, they smile in sweetness, 

The danger having passed thy fluttering heart ! 

Wise nature has encircled those beauteous orbs. 

These truest answers to heaven's deepest blue , 

By shady arbor — those silken, dark-fringed lashes 



18 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Of downward cast, of glossy, dreamy shadow. 

Lest they should blind the happening beholder. 

Her pearly teeth are firmly set in lips 

Which even put to blush the royal purple ; 

Though hardly seen when disdain pangs the soul, 

But when, unravell'd, they pout and, raised, smile. 

Then does instinctively thy mouth enfurl 

In kissing wrinkles full of senseless craving. 

They are a worthy pedestal to honor 

The Phidian nose of classic-outdrawn lines ; 

Gracing at once this face, it stamps it noble. 

But when those lips emit their silvery laugh. 

The delicate chin revibrates echo-like, 

Then, heavens, can you boast amidst the Graces, 

Hold you a goddess to excel this beauty 

In face, as well as in her sumptuous form 1 

Her beauty only will demand thy worship, 

Her virtue must command respect, yea, awe ; 

For like on mountain heights glows forth the snow. 

When kissed by the lips of parting Sol 

In airy, purple blush, bounded by white. 

Such shines her dimpled cheek in dual tinge : 

It is the seat of virgin's chaste array. 

But how could I in garrulous metaphor 

Depict to you this flower without a peer 

In sightless words of icy, lifeless jingle. 

The painter may in living colors prove 

That Hispania should call this maid her Helen. 

Hasten, my friend, thou favorer of thy king, 

Thus far you've pleased his eye with shapeless mortals. 

Now place this goddess on her proper throne. 

{King snatches letter azvay from him. Reading.) 



act i: scene ii. 19 

King. 
She leads a hermit's life, she is the daughter 
Of Julian, the Count of Consiegra. 

Delator. 
The writer of this letter I know not, 
But he is verily thy warmest friend. 

King. 
Count Julian's daughter ? He, my greatest General, 
Who merited a world-wide, binding fame. 
When from Witiza I this kingdom wrested ? 
He is my enemy who thus would lead me ! 

Delator. 
Here is her picture, the letter gives it also. 

{Hands to him the picture.) 
Whether General or not ; you want the daughter. 
It cannot be your fault, beloved King, 
If Consiegra's daughter falls in love. 

King. 
Gods ! That such beauty ever should be mortal. 
Indeed, I thought this scribbling idle say-so. 
It does not justice to this present likeness. 
What life must radiate from these blue eyes ! 
How would a smile these serious features blend ! 
And, Gods, how ravishing must be the love. 
Which means to bend this gravity of mien. 

{To Delator.) 
I can conceive now, why this spleenish grumbler 
Stayed from my court and lived a hermit-life, 
Desiring to keep this flower to his greed. 
Which ought to shed its fragrance at my court ! 



20 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

By old St. Paul, it shall be so in future. 

But how can I compel him .-* Think, old fellow ! 

Delator. 
I've fostered in sleepless nights a plan 
Which shall effect the presence of this treasure ; 
But only one man shadows our success, 
And this is Solis, thy so learned counselor. 
He would, while Julian's friend, be the Archangel, 
Who, sword in hand, bars thee from paradise. 
Hark ! Steps approaching ! There he comes. 
{Solis enters^ 

SOLIS. 
I bear, my royal master, thee the message : 
That in Asturia enters into war 
Vitissez, Witiza's youngest son, with ardor ; 
He overwhelmed the governor of those parts. 
Destroyed him in an ambush, and his army. 
And furthermore, that on thy kingdom's borders, 
Which lie in Africa, countless appears 
On land and sea the heathen Saracen. 

King. 
The Moor ! say again, invades my loved Spain .-* 

Solis. 
Such is my message. At either point is needed 
A trusty leader forthwith. 

King. 

Canst thou never. 
Thou croaking raven, fetch us a happy message.? 
The pagan Saracen ! By Alarick ! 



ACT I: SCENE II. 21 

Bring me my armor, quickly my shield and sword ; 
Off at the Moors, to teach those sneaking hounds 
Whether my kingdom is decreed to them ! 

Delator. 
Refrain, my liege, it is not deemed thine office 
To go to war, to expose thy noble self. 
Send Julian, the greatest of thy Generals, 
To whip the Moors ; they are an unskilled throng; 
For such a work mates not thy royal talent. 
Ha ! when to conquer Spain the die was cast, 
Then didst thou fight the greatest amongst the great, 
Translucent in thy fame, eclipsing all : — 
The iron crown, the laurel wreath, encircles 
Thy weighty brow ; leave now the field to others. 

King. 
I shall take thy advice. 

And thee, Count Solis, 
I will appoint to shield our fair Asturia. 

{^Snceringly^ 
No better man could even Sal'mon chosen, 
Because you often favored us with counsel, 
And for this loyalty be this our thanks. 
Even this very night you'll leave Toledo. 
Two thousand well equipped horsemen take, 
To castigate Iberia's slavish hordes. 
Count Julian's patent I shall take in person ; 
Soon speed a happy message to thy King. 
{Exit King and Delator?) 
SOLIS. 
Thus has it been, and ever will be in future : 
The fawner grows in might and influence 



22 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSJEGR A. 

By fawning, spaniel-like, on an empty master. 
For righteous counsel pains in its own sternness 
The royal mind, which only means to govern. 
It hates the trusty friend for frankness' sake. 
Aye, oft shalt thou regret, ungrateful Roderick, 
This action, which the moment but conceived, 
And only ill can be its consequence. 
Delator always led thy mind astray, 
Whilst I have tried to stay thy evil nature. 
For this he planned, now signed my sudden fall. 
To sway thee, wanton King, like an easy reed 
Which every gust of wind devotes to play. 
I see already sprout from its lusty womb. 
Evil, the stepfather of Death, who, drunk with gore, 
Will dash to pieces this once sturdy kingdom : 
Because the senses it humored more than deeds, 
The bawd it valued more than trusty friend. 
{Delator enters.) 

Delator. 

Good bye, my lord, may Asturia serve thee better. 
(Soils and Delator eyeing each other, ivith hands on their 
swords.) 

CURTAIN. 



ACT I: SCENE III. 23 

SCENE III. 

A forest and park, summer houses, etc. 
Orlandez, then Agnes. 
Orlandez. 
Mysterious emotions dart across my brain, 
Catch neither rest nor quiet in worldly pleasure. 
How used I joyous rove over mount and dell, 
Through pines and meadows, chasing the bounding deer, 
Before I saw thee, my beloved Agnes. 
This day shall unfurl my dread uncertainty ; 
Whether she'll be mine or not must be decided ; 
For further can my nature endure it not. 
My valor, all my firmness — it is gone, 
And, like a ship a-tossing rudderless, 
I reel along, not knowing what my aim. 
Those castles which ambitious mind so busy 
In former days had built ; those dreams of yore, 
Of heroic deeds reaped for my captive land, 
Are vanished ; naught stays but disappointment. 
Does he not fly me as if I hurt his sight, 
The trusty peasant, he who once venerated, 
If not my person, then my angry station 
As eldest son of his ancestral king, 
Ready to spill his own heart's blood for me ? 
He shunneth now my sight, because I thrust 
Away from these mine hands the royal offer 
To be the leader in this holy war. 
Started to free Iberia from bondage. 
Its destiny now shapes my younger brother. 
Oh, but to ask thee, I begged their respite, 
And to possess thee even in spite of curses, 



24 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

I scorned for thee these empty, lurid honors. 
Thou art the anchor, love, which holds me back 
From fame of battles, alas, even from my duty 
For loved solitude. 

At last she comes. 
Sweet love, come, enter my tongue, and leave for once 
Thy constant dwelling ; engage my speech in sweetness. 
Hush, throbbing heart, she nears. Oh, God of Love, 
Lend me persuasive powers ; grant me 

{Agnes enters. Orlandez steps up to her and takes her 
hands in his.) 

Agnes ! 
Did ever the spark of the all-loving God 
Light into thy soul, and there, enkindling, find 
A ready hearth for chaste and lasting flame, 
Illumining thy then dark, impassive soul 
With a strange blaze, which, mirrored, shines forth 
Through those sparkling eyes, the windows of the heart ? 
Then hear me pleading gently at thy feet ; 

{In a half-kneeling position.') 

Turn not away in girlish modesty. 
If the true heart of man was never deemed 
A plaything for thy dainty, rosy fingers 
(Now tipped with the blush of setting sun) 
To tease but for a moment's merriment, 

Then is my wish fulfilled. Yet I ask 

{Dreamily?) 
Oh, gaze on me with thine so lovely eyes ; 
How they have haunted me, how I have longed 
To gaze at them again — lost, bewildered : 
Aye, like the flowers must seek their nourishing sun, 



ACT I: SCENE III. 25 

Though they be hindered by envious shade, 

Still they must strive with all their might and whim, 

Or wither in death, bereft of sustenance ! 

Such has my longing been, my beloved sun, 

To meet thee, Agnes ; to hear my mortal woe 

Or my immortal bliss from those pure lips. 

Oh, Agnes, I love thee as angels love their God, 

With all the sacred fire of celestial spheres. 

Oh, give me answer ; Agnes, mercy on me ! 

The infernal flames cannot burn more dire 

Than of uncertainty the fear doth tantalize. 

I love thee, sweet farewell of all my sorrows. 

Wilt thou be mine } Shall heaven meet my earth. 

Or is despair to grapple with my reason } 

Sweet angel, be my judge, weigh well thy answer; 

Lift thou me into heaven, or, thrust — denying me — 

Engulf me into darkness! — Answer, love. 

Lest I should kiss this answer from thy lips. 

Agnes. 
Orlandez, why must thou aggress me here > 
My nurse may be around, somebody near ! . . . 
Dost thou not know it is so impolite 
To fright a maid by such ....-* 

Orlandez {interrupting). 

Politeness. Can 
It trace those lines of " Yes" around thy mouth, 
But speak it not } Is it impolite to love .-* 
Farewell now, maiden-blushes, innate chastity. 
Those guiding stars, thine eyes, tell me thou lovest. 
I do beseech thee, feed my craving heart ; 
Turn not thy face from me to hide thy blushes. 



26 count julian de consiegra. 

Agnes. 
Then, if thou must know, yea, I love thee, Orlandez. 
Thou art my only thought by night and day. 

Orlandez. 
Blessed moment ! It fills me like a dream, 
The blissful truth appears too great to me. 
Oh, say it once again : thou lovest me, darling. 

Agnes. 
My love, it is my all. The fire yonder 
Of setting sun is but an icy splendor 
Compared with my love. 

Orlandez. 
{Quickly rising and embracing her.) 
My priceless gem! 
How I have sighed to behold thy self once more. 

{A bsent-niinded like.) 
The circling day has passed too slow for me. 
And how I longed for sunset, to know thy doings ; 
Now does she take the customary walk, 
And I, chained to duty, cannot see her. 
Those warriors, with whom you saw me last. 
Led me to council held by Iberia's nation. 
Where proffered they to me a kingly crown. 
I am the eldest son of their late king. 
For thee alone I refused to obey their summons ; 
Forswore my natural right, to gain thy love ; 
I changed my royal fame to be thy slave. 

{Kneeling again.) 
What endless music, to hear thee say thou lovest me. 
Oh, say it again, for I have scorned so much, 



ACT I: SCENE III. 27 

That I again may hear for which my birthright 
I willingly renounced. 

Agnes. 

Yea, should my love 
Connected be with all these living fibres 
Whose severance would sever soul from coil, 
Then with my dying breath would I attest it. 

Orlandez. 
Oh, durst I drink this off these sacred lips. 

Agnes. 
They dare not taste as yet such winsome fire. 
My heart is thine, if with it thou couldst fondle, 
My early wishes would interweave with thine ! 
You stayed so long from me. In minutes' torment 
Have passed three days since I beheld you last. 
I thought you had forgotten all these places 
Which sheltering trees made so beloved to thee. 

Orlandez. 
Agnes, duty compelled me; naught else could 
Have kept me, pining, from thy sunny presence, 
And not a day shall sever us again. 
Marriage shall fold us soon in lasting bond. 
Thy venerable father I'll meet on morrow. 
And ask his blessings to tie the mystic knot 
Which only Death can sever by his scythe. 
He who does love thee with paternal care 
He'll not be proof against thy earnest pleadings. 
The chime of thy sweet voice in earnest prayer. 
Whose simple tones have fettered me, the rover, 



28 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Will smooth the roughness of the old warrior, 
And make him bless . . . 

Agnes {interrupting). 

Why must thou, Orlandez, 
Infuse this draught of joy with bitterness ? 
Thy speech, which so endeared to my love, 
Is wounding to my filial affections. 
You must renounce this heedless thought ; let Time, 
This wayward master, consummate with ease 
What hasty act would spoil beyond repair. 
Thou knowest that my father would never give 
To him his daughter who by the Almighty's right 
Should be, instead of Roderick, King of Spain. 
The prying tongues of envy would undermine. 
Would busily besmirch him with treachery 
Against his King, whom next to God he worships. 
Courageous blood, spurred by ancestral glory. 
Rushes too proudly, swiftly, through his veins 
That he could bear this even for his daughter. 
Forgive, Orlandez, is it my lot to curb 
Thy honest love, to undo what I hope } 
But I must shield the feelings of my parent. 

Orlandez. 
Then fly with me. This will prevent all doubts. 
Trust to the arm embracing you so firmly. 
And live for love alone, its bright commands. 
How should I love to dwell, thee in my arms, 
In a beauteous vale of this my native land, 
For naught but thee. Ah, bear thee on those hands 
In hour of need. Agnes, consent ! Yet lives 
My uncle, powerful at thy royal court. 



ACT I: SCENE III. 29 

Well trusted by thy King. He'll intercede, 
And bring thy father's blessing to our union. 

Agnes. 
Orlandez, honeyed speech shall ne'er ensnare me 
To such an act, even would it unite 
My heart's own longings with romantic folly. 
My dear, proud father's death would only follow 
Should his own daughter, like a common wench. 
Cast pride aside, like something superworn. 
And run away to live but for her love. 
But ! see there ! this glittering cavalcade 
Approach my father's house, on Toledo's highway. 
We have to part. How swiftly passes time! 
Short are the joys of changeful life. Eternal 
Appears the sorrow in its heavy burden. 
To-morrow dawns again a joyful day, 
You have my heart within thee, I feel thine; 
Till then, sweet love, adieu ! 

Orlandez. 

Woe brings thy parting ! 
A terrible foreboding fastens on my brain. 
Agnes, hear me before it is too late. 
Allow my prayer to reach a willing heart. 
Love, fly with me, behold me before thee kneeling. 
I feel it in my soul like a divine dictate. 
Robbed I'll be of thee ere night ensues. 
Oh ! Agnes ! fly, trust to a father's love . . . 

Agnes {interrupting). 
Trust thou in me ! Trust not this sickly phantom 
Which through fear alone doth morbidly arise. 



30 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Trust to the star of Love, " True love doth conquer." 
And that thy love be true ? 

{Orlandez nods his head.) 

Thou noddest assent. 
Farewell, beloved ! 

Orlandez. 

Fare thee well, mine angel ! 
{Exit AgJies.) 

Orlandez. 

Useless it is to conjure this flitting phantom, 

To stay it, and then dissectingly look 

Into its face, to discern from whence it rose ; 

It flits across mine eyes so shadow-like. 

Is it my fear deluding my sharpened brain 

To lose this moment what but a moment ago 

I had but found ? Her cheering words shall drive 

It from my mind. This be my hopeful beacon: 

" True love doth conquer," then, till next joyful meeting. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT I: SCENE IV. 31 

SCENE IV. 

A large hall in Count Julian's castle. 
King, Delator, Count Julian, Agnes, Courtiers, 

AFTERWARDS QUEEN AND COURT LADIES. 

Julian. 
Be welcome, king — thrice welcome, royal master ! 
My slender comforts are in thy liberal hands. 
For they have placed me thus to bid thee welcome. 
And you, my royal guests — I hope no strangers. 

King. 

And you, my noble lord. How farest thou, Julian, 
Secluded like a rat amongst the shavings } 

Julian. 
Long had I planned to see my liege once more, 
And my ennobled queen, before these bones 
Should bid farewell to all for lasting sleep. 
But incessant cares, paternal and domestic, 
Have barred me ever from my chief desire. 

King. 
Therefore I came myself, with all this train. 
To inspect with mine own eyes thy worldly affairs, 
Thyself, brave hero, — thee my priceless jewel. 
Without its peer amongst my chivalry. 
Thou hidest well, as Scripture tells us of, 
Thy light beneath a bushel. Turn'st thou greedy 
In thy old age, or wilt thou^ by secluding 
Thyself and all thy fame from popular gaze, 
Preserve thee in modesty as a mystic subject 
For future ages fitted for sterling song } 



32 count julian de consiegra. 

Julian. 

Too much of honor may even spoil a sage ! 
But rest thyself, make best use of the house 
Which hides thy servant and his daily thrift. 
Too hard lies in my mouth the unwieldy tongue 
To display in glossied speech my good regards, 
But this my arm could wield its weapon yet, 
'Tis ever ready at sacrifice to serve thee. 

King. 

This arm of thine drove me from quiet Toledo, 

Its aid I seek again ! But listen, Julian : 

From Algesiras came to me the message: 

The Moor appears in vast and greedy numbers 

On land and seas, in splendid trim, in armour ; 

He bids defiance to my valiant warriors 

And, bloated with frenzy, he means to wrest from us 

Our Christian kingdom by recourse to arms. 

Like hordes of locusts, numberless and hungry, 

Incited by nomadic lust, their nature. 

Corrupting fly along to settle forthwith 

On meadows, cornfields, forests, even thorny hedges. 

Whatever bids a greeting to their swallow, 

Unless the peasant, well aware of danger. 

At the right moment and with proper means 

Tries to repel them by great show and clamor, 

And deviates them to a neighboring den. 

Thus have decided we in our own wisdom 

To scare these hordes, whom but a single mishap 

May drive away through martial array. 

Even heavy battling, to nearer easier harvest. 



ACT I: SCENE IV. 33 

{To Julian.^ 
Thou art the only one amongst my generals 
Who ably can accomplish our intent, 
And, worthy such an honor, you were selected. 
This fortress, Algesiras, which I founded 
By thine own forethought upon my kingdom's border. 
It is the fulcrum, whereon revolves 
And stands my power. Its inhabitants. 
These soldiers, equal our warlike fathers ; 
For privation only strengthens body and soul ; 
They proffer thee their honest, filial love 
And ask thee to accept this honest gift. 

Julian. 
How do they prosper, tell me, my noble king .? 
Many their braves were brethren to me in arms. 

King. 

They love thee as a son doth love his father. 

These braves, thy children; they await thy word. 

They mean to crown thy warrior's exploit 

With freshened laurel thy now grizzled hair. 

Which, while still golden, bore it so gracefully. 

They are elated in their eager intent 

In thy van to prove — though few they be, but skilled — 

To those pagans numberless and brave. 

What Gothic valor conquered, it means to hold. 

None but the Gods could change this resolution. 

Julian. 
By my sainted father — it comes to me again 
Like in days of old, whilst young this shivered frame, 
To grasp the flashing sword, shouting victory 
To throw myself amidst the hostile ranks, 



34 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Slaying right and left, to grapple again with fortune. 
Huzza! my soldiers wield their carnaged arm: 
See, shifting to and fro at my leading voice, 
They break the enemy, scatter them far; 
They gain thee victory and princely harvest. 

{Regaining his composure again^ shaking his head.) 
This was a sport once exactly to my liking 
And sacred have I thought it to my being, 
But no — no more ; life's dreadful earnestness 
Has ne'er denied to me of toil abundance. 
Nor has it offered my daily path swept clear. 
When, blessed be my wife, she left this world 
To shine an angel in celestial spheres, 
Then left she to me a sacred pledge of love, 
Which totally absorbs my time and nature, 
And thus far 'tended to all my daily cares : 
And this is Agnes, 

{taking her by the hand) 
She, my only child. 
The joy of mine old age — nay more — my pride. 
Behold, my daughter, revere our worshipped king. 

King. 

( Taking Agnes' hand, scanning her features, then looking 

at Julian^ 
This have I never known that such tender bonds 
Kept thee remote within these spacious halls ; 
Thence could I not decipher the just cause 
Why thou husbandest here, instead to dwell 
In easy reach of my appreciation. 
Nevertheless I cannot spare you now 
The powerful right hand of all my might. 



ACT I: SCENE IV. 35 

Though neither can I allow your youthful daughter 
To share those dangers brought forth by frightful 

war, 
Nor dare you hold to these quick perceiving eyes, 
Nor to this mind full of forming tendencies, 
A warrior's rudeness, his remorseless actions, 
Which must come to her view in constant train. 
To dislodge this shackle from thy willingness 
I see an exit prone to our mutual wish. 
Scarce will the sandglass have ordained an hour 
Forever fallen to the lap of Time, 
Who greedily hides it, irrevocably, 
E'er harbor will thy house our gracious queen. 
Who, glowing to meet thee, has left Toledo 
Borne in a litter by hands of pacing servants, 
For she distrusts the prancing horse's quick step ; 
She will with me enforce this happy trust : 
So leave thy daughter to her maternal care. 

{Aside to him.) 
Her every daily thought torments her peace 
That she has not, nor calls her own, a daughter ; 
A dear companion — whose love she could deserve. 
See here already ! the favoring of her wish 
Must mightily have taxed her servants' feet. 
{Queen enters, on a litter. Court ladies on foot. Julian 

rushes to the litter, with Agites, to help her to alight. 

She reaches him her hatid, which he kisses, kneeling?) 

Queen. 

I had to come to my trusty cavalier. 
If I would yet behold him, who departs 
Upon the treach'rous and gory waves of war. 



36 count julian de consiegra. 

Julian. 

This is the bond, my ever-gracious queen, 
Which fettered me unto this clod of land, 
Whose plenty waste has deigned to me the king. 
She is my only child, with whom my spouse 
Has honored me. Her own life she exchanged, 
To grant me this. For fifteen vernal seasons 
Has Mother Earth rejuvenated herself, 
Since Destiny bid us to continue on, 
I wifeless, she, alas, without a mother ; 
So like the vine, which only rugged stone 
Can cling to for support in gusts of wind ; 
And like will take to like in matter of choice, 
A mother could not shield her tottering steps, 
Guide her advancing years. 

King. 

God does deny us oft to find us true, 

And we must bear it, yea, without a murmur. 

{To the queen?) 
To soften this callous doom, our wish to further 
I have just volunteered, my lovely wife, 
To take her into thy tenderhearted fold. 
You would be mother to his only child 
Till he returned from war's uncertain future ; 
It does appear unjust to send a daughter 
To share a soldier's danger and fatigues. 

Queen {with emphasis). 

God forbid it — no ! Give me thy Agnes, Julian. 
I will be a mother to her — I'll try to blend 



ACT I: SCENE IV. 37 

Her former wanting, till thou return'st a victor, 
Marshalled with honor, yet a loving father. 
Too keen have I felt this void within my heart, 
Which, never filling, fills my very soul. 
I have no daughter depending on my care, 
Who in her love could shorten weary hours 
In talk and pleasantry, to make me happy. 
Yet I would teach to her life's earnest ways ; 
In open turmoil to harvest in experience 
By venturing through good and bad haps, and 
To store the profits in ever ready closet, 
Is every mortal's aim and sacred duty. 

Julian. 

So be it then. Take her into this school. 

Illustrious guest, be thou to her a mother. 

To my only child : God bless our mutual aim. 

Her first mother could hardly impress a kiss 

Upon her baby lips before Death chilled 

The mother's heart forever. 

God has willed it. 
Thou boldest the greatest treasure of my world, 
Beware it, like the apple of thine eye, 
If thou would'st wish me, to engage my arm, 
To hold thee safe, to keep thy fatherland 

Against the harassing and pagan foe 

Man's intent is the oracle of God, 

And hope alone decides uncertainty. 

We mortals hope from every single step. 

Immortals only hold its shrouded end ; 

To trust blindfolded, this is mortal's province. 



38 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

{To Agnes, whom he kisses^ 
Behold, my child, there stands your second mother, 
Who further on shall guard thy prudent life. 
{Julian leads Agnes to the queen; the queen embraces 
Agnes. Delator nods to a page, who carries a sword 
on a silken cushion,) 

King. 
In order to remind thee always, General, 
What purpose carried thee into this war, 
Whose power thou uphold'st on bloody fields, 
I will engird thee with this sword of honor. 
{The king girds him with the szvord; the page lays the 
cushion in front of Jtdian ; Julian kneels upon it ; the 
king draws the sword ; two pages kneel on either side of 
JuliaJi; the king strikes Julian across the back three 
times. All men, except the king, kneel. The ladies 
stand off with bowed heads?) 
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost preserve thee : 
Preserve to us our Spain, our holy church 
From heathens, from their godless paganism. 
With holy water christ'nd this sword Prince Oppas, 
And in this hilt, by masterly hand implanted, 
Glows forth a relic of St. Peter's cross. 
The bravest champion of the Christian faith ; 
Thou hold'st it forth against the pagan Moor. 
This sword shields thee against Satanic craft, 
Lest should Satan enwhirl thee during battle. 
And thy cold, dispassionate mind, which only conquers. 
Whenever the leader's eye sweeps along the field, 
Where every issue takes its final worth 
In blood, rejuvenates itself, he oft descries 
The crown of victory settled upon one wing 



ACT I: SCENE IV. 39 

For his deserving brow, whilst, in the centre. 

The iron stillstand prevails against assaults, 

Which, like a forest, holds back an avalanche 

(Here and there pierced through to judge its mighty 

force) 
And shields the lands below in firm resistance ; 
Whilst, at the other wing, crouchingly rises up 
The germ of defeat, and, overranking all 
That greatness planned and firmness has created, 
Already executed stands through mighty battling; 
Then must the speedy horse carry the leader 
Where he alone can remedy misfortune. 
Expelling the spreading dread from the hearts of 

soldiers. 
He balances the evil freak of fortune, 
Reforms the ranks, and gains full victory. 
That thou art shielded against all subtleness 
Of Satan, against his damned angels, this 
Wards thee, — this charm enclosed within the hilt. ♦ 
Its magic shields thee against all evil power. 
Good fortune wills to thee Almighty God, 
It is His Faith for which thy arm doth battle. 
( The king, drawing an imaginary cross above Julian s 

head in the air, rests the cross-hilted sword on JuliarCs 

head.) 

CURTAIN. 



ACT II. 

SCENE I. 



A large room in Gothic style — a part of a monastery. 
A table ; an old-fashioned lamp burning upon it. 
Oppas sits at this table, thoughtfully. 



Oppas. 
Night woos my distracted brain. Full of her cooling 
Tendencies, aye, with her listless wings, she fans 
To soberness again my reasoning powers. 
The Day was sultry in his opening morn ; 
His noon was rage to my reflective mood. 
Thus riseth man in feverish, youthful dawn, 
Riseth and falls, like billows on the ocean, 
Grows passionate on mid-day, endeth in quiet eve. 
His flight is measured by his sturdy pinions, 
Reined in or spurred ahead by circumstance, 
The God of all his miseries and joys, 
{Resting his head upon his arms ; he raised it again^ 

looking at the lamp.) 
Ye silvery-tinted rays, the snugness ye throw about,^ 
Around your space, thus far they reach — beyond 'tis dark ! 
What is beyond .'' 'Tis dark, — and more we know not. 
Ha ! flickering light, on human life a parody. 
Snuffed once, thine oil spilled, thou art beyond 
Restoring power, and laugh'st at innovation ! 
One's life owns such a sweet and mellow tint, 
Gladd'ning to all who come within its reach, 



ACT II: SCENE I. 41 

Whilst others will exhale black smoke and stench, 
As if they fed upon some carcass-fuel, 
But to blast the life of others ; whilst some shine 
Brighter than the sun, and a comfort in their warmth. 
And others, again, showering fire and sparks, they fly. 
Like a marauding meteor, — aye, like the lightning. 
They shoot across the firmament for a moment, 
And they are gone ; naught does remain except 
The howling cats and dogs which took affright. 
And this be thine life, Roderick, king of Spain. 

{Pojidering.) 
Yes, cosy lamp, thou fillest me with disdain 
For stronger sun against stronger emotions. 
Before thy influence my passions do disband. 
To rave no more, but few hours ago they raged, — 
Aye, fired by my king's dastardly treatment. 
They boiled, — and, distilling faster, faster still. 
Retorted through my pride, fanned by their laughter. 
They brought forth rage. It tore my mind to shreds, and. 
Flapping to and fro in senseless raving, 
They tired only and lost their watchful aim. 
{Pondering, to the lamp again.) 
Thou duU'st me, for disquiet encircles me — 
My working mind — in a nightly guarding husk. 
Staying response from within to noise without. 
This moral sleep nurtureth my vigorous motives ; 
Cooling my wrath, it favors cogitation. 
So that I ponderingly look within myself. 
Collected and cool, I choose my plan of action. 
The eagle rules the day, the owl the night. 
King Roderick, thou bravest to play the eagle. Now 
He is asleep. — Now, brain, evolve thy mission ; 



42 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Night, catch this slumbering bird of confident day, 

Who wills to throw his sunny sparks of light 

Into our darker shades of ancient rites, 

To dispel for us the shades of superstition, 

And to teach us ignorants his brighter ways. 

Jesus ! skeleton of my church, thy grinning form 

Reminds me, 'tis all the king has left thee thus far ! 

Thy healthy flesh and blood, those venerable features 

He threw to the dogs in his malicious will ; 

He had the power : thy grinning, hideous form 

Must seek now retribution, or thou, thyself. 

Must fall in thine own disclosed nothingness, 

A mirth to fools, — a pitiful sight to men. 

Soar thou again forth, my once ambitious spirit, 

I give thee freedom, my former obligations — 

The tyrant's chains, imposed by loyalty — 

Are severed, and gladly steals away 

My unfettered spirit, to enter upon its mission. 

For thou or he must fall, or perish both. 

No other hope does greet thy resurrection 

Ambition, come forth, restrained power of my youth, 
It will check not, nor dim, thy sight. Arise ! 
Thou, only used to darkened cell till now, 
Where I had lashed thee, slumbering and confined, 
Break forth, untamed, untrammelled, — my all. 
Body and soul, shall be thy noble food. 
Lashed by revenge, — aye, spurred by the angry spurs 
Of shame and insult, the gall of thy baptizement. 
Dash ahead, chased by the furies of Despair. 
Ho ! tear him from his self-assumed position. 
To be a foot-stool to my rising might. 
{Sarcastically laughing^ 



ACT II: SCENE I. 43 

Ha ! Roderick, thou would'st be the champion foe 

Against my sacred church, — regardless fool, — 

To disconnect improvement from Time, 

Yes, thou would'st throw amongst the swine this fruit 

Of the tree of knowledge. 

Eh, thou hast ate it. 
But it shall waste away thy ambitious flesh 
And turn to subtle poison, which, gaining anew, 
In thine own haughtiness, shall fill thine orbs 
With gall, and blind thee unto approaching danger. 
Prometheus of thy race, thou bringer of light, 
Thou philosophic prototype of him 
Who stole from the Gods the fire to bring to fools. 
Chained to the rock of sages be thy fate, 
The vulture devouring thy liver be thine own mockery, 
And flattery be the medicant to heal 
What mockery slew, till thou art ripe to fall, 
Cursed and despised. 

{Arising.) 

I am thy Destiny. . . . 
An everlasting fortune laughs at Fate, 
Denies her being, ever treats her lightly ; 
And yet how quickly may rise her glowing anger. 
May touch Fortuna's lips with deathly pallor. 
Thus shall it be with thee, spoiled Gothic king, 
On whom Fortuna has ever brightly shone, 
To whom, with open hands, she ever appeared. 
She shall now close her hand, — it is my wish ; 
Close-fisted, frowning, she shall rise against thee. 
On his wings, hovering above thee, be the angel 
Of disaster ; and, uncovering his hideous visage, 



44 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

He shall cow, shall fill thee with destructive fear. 
Iberia's nation, from whence I lead my birth, 
Lies destitute and shackled at my feet. 
Not to raise her I lend a helping hand, 
But, to o'erthrow thee, I feign to double her might, 
And out of this seed of discord, which I myself 
Pressed into thy hands, thou lustful Roderick, 
And which thou sowedst, little guessing wherefore. 
Shall germ for thee perdition ; 

Aye, such tender shoot, 
I'll be its gardener ; aye, with a father's love, 
I'll care it, water it, cleanse it, feed it well, 
Watching its growth, till, sprouting lustily, 
It shall be able to support itself .... 
Chance made my greatness ; subtleness shall hold it ; 
It shall outlive thine by crafty intellect. 
Foolhardy men are but ephemeral beings. 
And craftiness outlives all other traits. 
Am I the spirit, then, which, thus negating. 
Into this arena steps, challenging all ? 
No, fated king, I shall be prompter only ; 
My greedy minions shall be thy torturers. 
Like puppets act to some hidden hand, and strut 
Proudly along this stage, bloated with greatness. 
Whilst a subtle hand doth pull the hidden cord, 
Unknown to all, they act his simplest bidding ; 
Their rage is but his wish, their death his whim. 
Onward, Romano ! Onward, Julian ! Onward, Orlandez! 
My brain is yours, your hands and limbs are mine. 
On, servants of my craft, on towards your mission ! 

{A knock on the door.) 
Who comes so late, to disturb my restless night .■* 
{Romano enters) 



ACT II: SCENE I. 45 

Romano. 

Benedicimus te, my worthy, holy father ; 

May His lordly grace forever shine through thee. 

Thou art the rock on which our church doth stand, 

And whereon transgressors shall find their shattered end. 

This damned king, he dared to force his entrance, 

And for a moment our church seemed lost and ruined. 

But, ha, ha ! I and my monks we brewed for him 

A non-triumphal exit. Ha, ha ! we filled 

With most infernal howls the resounding nooks, 

And sulphurous fumes exhaled the spreading fires, 

A hell for him,— to us a sainted glory. 

We started it, so that the flames should sweep 

Off from this earth the spot where our religion— 

Our church— succumbed to devilish tyranny. 

Those mournful ruins shall stand till end of Time, 

A dire example to present generation, 

To coming ones a mystic, dreadful warning. 

QPPAS. 

And that is all thy work > Romano, think'st thou > 

Alas ! self-important fool, not thou — not thy hands — 

Could burn to ashes His beloved temple. 

'Tis easy work for God to stay the fire's 

Insatiable progress, — it was His will, 

Who clove the sea in twain to save His people, 

Engulfed their enemies in their blind pursuit. 

Not thou — He it was, who destroyed His sanctuary. 

You were but the tool in His almighty grasp. 



46 count julian de consiegra. 

Romano. 

{Throwing himself 07t his knees before Op pas. ^ 
Almighty ! Merciful ! forgive my presumptuous soul. 
Thy greatness was at stake ; Thou hast redeemed it. 

Oppas. 
How dared you speak so self-assumingly ? 
The devil of conceit tries ever to claim those deeds 
Which only the Lord performeth in His might. 
You fell, like St. Peter, fell, seduced by Satan. 
Let humbleness pervade thy very soul. 

Romano. 

God, let justice not alone prevail ! 

Have mercy, Father, I have greatly sinned ! 

Oppas. 
And trusty champions to prostrate loves Satan, 
But quickly rises again the righteous from his fall. 
Thy humble speech redeems thy erring pride, — 
Nay, more : Hail to thee, Romano, for the Lord 
Has now selected thee His sainted medium. 

1 held a dream — a vision — when after 'twas done, 
I flew to my quieter home, and when I knelt, 
Insulted, grieved at heart, bereft of judgment. 
And prayed to Christ for solace and for wisdom, 
Then I beheld Him — there — in all the splendor 
Which in their ecstacy the saints depict ; 

And thus He spake : " Rejoice, my servant, Oppas, 
Aye, shout for joy, my church is sovereign. 
Romano shall my steeled champion be, 
To chastise this impious and vainglorious king." 
Then vanished all. I thanked Him for His grace. 



ACT II: SCENE L 47 

Behold how strongly you felt His noble bidding, 
Though unknown to your mind. He rules the heart. 

Romano. 

O God, all-wise ! My arm, my soul obey Thee. 
Thy mandate is all my eagerness desires. 
Command, and I am there. Thou art the master. 

{To Oppas.) 
You guide me, father, ever to humbleness. 
And let me kiss thy holy garment's hem. 
Holy it is, because God has sainted you. 
Thou sawest in the flesh His sanctifying presence. 
{Kisses Oppas s garment.) 

Oppas. 

In lowliness to apply the pointed will 

Of the Creator pertains to godly champions. 

(And keep thus meek, ever anon, thy soul, 

That arrogance may not envenom thee.) 

Arise! Whom the Lord has honored so greatly 

Shall not before me stoop in adoration. 

{Romano rises. A knock on the door.) 
Who knocks again at such unsocial hour .-• 

Romano. 

There came with me a noble, trusty youth. 
He claims to be thy nephew — his name, Orlandez. 
{Orlandez enters?) 

Oppas. 

Why doth thou thrust thyself in the lion's den } 
Thou art an outlaw, — is it unknown to thee .? 



48 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Orlandez. 
Desperation laughs at danger ; if even destruction 
Should stare into her face, she would not halt. 
I seek my love, my only ray from heaven. 
All about me is darkness. Oh, help me, uncle. 
Or I am lost. Blank stares this world at me. 
The king has taken her and brought her here. 
His dreadful aim I dare not contemplate. 
Do intercede for me at court with thy power. 
Do you remember yet, you rocked me oft 
Upon your knee — your darling } Beloved uncle, 
She is the only treasure which a greedy world 
Has left me yet from all the royal glitter 
Of my once happy childhood. He, King Roderick, 
Who stole from me all I ever possessed 
Or hoped for. Yet gladly would I bear it, 
Had he but left to me this one precious blessing. 

Oppas. 
Explain yourself, my son ; you speak in riddles. 

Orlandez. 
Roderick has carried off to-day my Agnes, 
Count Julian's daughter. 

Oppas. 

Ha ! his only daughter. 
Orlandez. 
He brought her to Toledo. What his purpose . . . 
Oppas {interrupting). 

Poor boy, so young, so daring, so unhappy ! 
Aye, wickedness ever fathoms his designs. 



ACT IT: SCENE I. 49 

I fear for thee and for thy loved one. 

Out of his heart can come but ill, my nephew. 

Orlandez. 
This maddens me, uncle, poisons my peaceful mind. 
My dagger's blade can easily sever this doubt. 
If intercession does not. I do fear the worst. 
Then show to me, thou practiced, cunning statesman. 
To me — the inexperienced — aye, point the way 
Which leads me to her presence. Answer, uncle. 
Thou thought'st me ever thy most favored kinsman. 

Oppas. 
With grace and ease will fall this beauteous lily. 
The first one yet shall ask the king to spare her. 
Which in her odor tickled his lustful sense. 

Orlandez. 
Beware ! Not for me thy scornful sneers and slurs ! 
Her virtue stands above my mother's worth. 
Gods ! rather would she die 

Oppas. 

Tush, innocent boy. 
Heed her not 



Orlandez. 

Have mercy on thy brother's son. 

Oppas. 
Nay, dress thy wound with Time, — that healing balm, 
With charming power, will speedily cure thy ills. 
Believe, dear nephew, hear my well-meant counsel. 
Though dread appears it to romantic folly : 
Too high he stands above thee in his kingdom 



50 CO UNI JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Orlandez. 
Too high ? Determined will breaks all barriers 
Raised but to hide and shield corrupted casts. 
He is a mortal ! This shapes my reasoning. 

Oppas, 

Tush! 

( To Romano^ 
Hear the hotspur ! 

{To Orlandez?) 

List. Canst thou fly the moon, 
Or would'st thou stay the circuit of the sun, 
To make night day ? He is our king, Orlandez. 

Orlandez. 
Willst thou yet come a spokesman to his aid 
Who yoked to death thy hapless fatherland, 
Wrung from thy family Iberia's crown } 
Then, slave, go on thy way. This arm it shall 
Even from his lips wrestle this joyful draught. 
Ha ! Hymen shall, instead of a happy omen, 
Reverse his torch for blasted funeral rites. 
{Rushes off, but, by a motion of Oppas, is held back by 
Romano?) 

Oppas. 
Oh, spring of youth. Naught is above thy aim. 
Could it embody the garnered sense of age. 
Then would even hopeless efforts yet succeed. 
But list, my son, — I'll be thy guiding father. 
Thine own I've mourned in e'er-recurring thought. 
Do not depart maddened by jealousy. 
Where is her father .?.... 



act ii: scene i. 51 

Orlandez. 
He is with her at court. 

Oppas. 
Then fear the worst not. Everything may prosper. 

{JFo Romano^ 
How could I discard these tender ties of blood, 
Of kindred love, — deny protective aid — 
Whom, as a child, I rocked upon these knees, 
And called with pet names, such as love inspires ? 

{To Orlandez^ 
No, leave me not. My house be thy asylum. 
Early affections always shape the heart, 
And when grown old we cannot stifle them, 
Though they seem odd to superficial minds, — 
Yea, maybe harmful at a pressing moment. 
The vesture of our order must disguise him, 
To hide his looks and form, — to lull suspicion. 

{Orlandez kneels to Oppas, and kisses his hand.) 
I'll lend a willing ear to thee to-morrow. 
Good night, Orlandez. 

Orlandez. 
{To Oppas.) 
Good night. 

( To Romano.) 
Good rest to you. 

{Exit Orlandez.) 

Oppas. 
Romano, 'tis strange, this daring hotspur does 
To-day appeal to me— and years have passed 
Since I beheld him last. Truly, methinks : 



52 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Does the Almighty show His secret intent 

That thou should'st find him, — thou whom the Lord 

Apparently has chosen His defense ? 

I shall in deep seclusion pray to Him 

To reveal to me His sacred hidden meaning. 

Romano. 
Thy blessing, sainted prince. 

{Ktieels?) 

Oppas. 
Be in His keeping. 

His almighty strength may fill thee to the core — 
It overpowers all, yea, heaven and hell — 
To do thy Lord's commands. Now fare thee well. 

{Exit Romano — apparently greatly disturbed — facing 
Oppas, who holds up in his hands a cross, as if in 
blessing. Oppas drops his left hand — Romano exit. 
Oppas, in rushing towards the front, throws the cross 
away, and looking around overjoyed^ 

Oppas. 
Ye gods ! this letter sent to Delator to-day, 
It has worked well. 

{Laughing and rubbing his hands.) 

I knew my ready game. 
Soon shall I behold its bloody, thrifty fruit. 
Spin on, then, Farces ; unroll thyself, thou thread, 
Thou meanest life, begun thou art already, 
Drawing nigher and nigher towards thy certain end, 
Where, merciless, the scissors' edge awaits thee. 



ACT II: SCENE I. 53 

Methinks I hear the spirit of Destruction 
Already, his grave and ever onward step : 
Crumble, ye pillars of this Gothic kingdom, 
Ye have no pedestal, no moral groundwork ; 
Aye, bury in your fall your bastard maxim 
To destroy at will all sacred privileges. 
Whether to peasants given, or to nobles, 
Or to my clergy : thence experience 
On thee our own perverting malediction. 
Which kings dethrones, creating others at will, 
And never lists to piteous cries for mercy. 
The heavens may forgive, but not the priest. 

CURTAIN. 



54 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

SCENE II. 
OppaS alone j afterwards MORAVIUS and pageant, etc. 

Oppas. 
Orlandez has essayed, after all my planning, 
Which I laid out before him in nightly converse, 
In the quick gush of thoughtless, youthful haste, 
To murder the king, whose life, as granted, I hold 
Within these hands, foreclosed like a bond ! 
Instead of profiting by my advice. 
He flew on his passionate wings, — fallen, lost ! 
He is the last hope, on which I must depend- 
When every one falls back. He the gladiator 
Who dauntlessly assails the infuriate bull ! 
Naught is too high, naught lies too low for me 
To save his arm. My self-reliance must 
Keep him for me alive, to serve me on. 

Onward, Romano ! Help ! 

Can I discern 
The passage, dark, which tends towards an exit .'' 
No one doth see through this unhappy trouble, 
That he, my kin, — our vesture, it is true, it stamps 
Me his associate, — superior influence 
Bade him to wield the blade, to spare mine own. 
This is the worst, yet doubtful. I am guiltless, — 
But worst opinions ever fear the most. 
A quick-spoken glance, whose secret alphabet 
The guilty apprehends, shall be the sign 
That help awaits him from my power still. 
I am the mightiest noble except the king, 
And him excepted . . . . I shall be master soon. 
{Moravius enters^ 



ACT II: SCENE II. 55 

MORAVIUS. 
I am amazed, dear prince, after all what happened, 
To find you at this place, and at this hour. 
Better, by far, decamp and dodge this blow- 
Aimed at thy head. Hast thou not heard, my lord, 
A Caulic monk attempted to kill the king 
Whilst he was walking in his private garden ? 

Oppas. 
This news has reached me full an hour ago, 
And on these news I caused my steps to wind 
Hither, to sit in judgment o'er this impostor, 
To empty envious and malicious mouths 
By my own uprightness and loyal course : 
For easy it is to slur a loyal subject, 
Though only cowards seek this latent tramway 
By which to assault the servant at his back 
With scurvy tongues. They fear to stand his presence, 
Because he could at once check the subtle poison. 
Discoloring his motives and his actions, 
When chance has made his innocence suspicious. 

MORAVIUS. 

I wish thee good success ; but here they come. 

{The procession — a pageant — enters: Heralds, Judges^ 
Secretaries, First Magnates of State, Councillors of 
the King, Delator, Courtiers, Court Ladies, Pages ; 
then King and Queen. The King, while passing 
Oppas, eyes him closely, makes a gestjtre of contempt 
and anger, but steps up towards the throne and there 
seats himself and Queen. Oppas wants to step to his 
seat, but is prevented by the Hellebardiers, on an 
angry gesture of the King?) 



56- COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

{After all are seated^ 
King. 

God's wrath shall strike all lurking hypocrites ! 
Archbishop Oppas, to-day I'm chanced to unmask 
Thy sanctimonious and intriguing ways, — 
Aye, the rascality I always saw in thee. 
For subterfuges open many a pretext ; 
But now, where striking proof strikes thee with guilt. 
Shall these sham exits for thy clearance close, 
Which ever have caught thy nimble, wary eye. 
By Alarick, the Great ! my godlike kinsman. 
Thou shalt be an example of my justice. 
My royal forecast shall prove itself correct, 
And royal justness shall thy conviction mate. 

Oppas. 

Well do I know, most generous-minded king, 
Whatever thy royal mind does father is enforced, 
If heaven and hell should even stand against it. 
But fairness, wise justness, bridles well 
Thy potent purpose, even in hasty moments. 
Thy will dares not to guard thy wish alone, 
And evade thy sense of justice, mighty liege. 
Now shall my mouth reveal without restraint, 
Because compelled I am to unveil my motives, 
Which till this day my pride bade me enveil. 
Aye, it shall tell thee also of my grief. 
How your eternal disbelief has hurt me. 
And what made me appear a hypocrite ! 
I am a native of this thy present kingdom, 
A brother of Iberia's native king, 



A CT II: SCENE IL 57 

Whom thou did'st slay, when Iberia to conquer 

The die was cast. — Did I not from my own brother, 

Though heartless he was to me and to my house, — 

Did I not then secede, to trust to thee. 

To thine overcasting star my future welfare, 

And did not many follow my example ? 

They all are thrifty servants to thy summons ! 

They ever furthered THEE ; . . . . not thy suspicion. 

You made me a prince of the church — aye, it is well. 

Thou ever beloved — though miserable — grant, 

I did not seek thee, cause of all my misery, 

And yet I longed for it — I loved this station. 

This investure did, alas ! surcharge me with duties 

Which doubly stationed me conspicuous, 

Thus singly-handed to serve this holy church 

As a worthy champion and organizing father, 

And to obey my royal, my gracious liege. 

The eye wanted to choose in this earthly labyrinth 

Of pressing questions amongst its many roads 

The proper one, durst not but towards the heavens 

For wisdom peer in doubts, to find advice, 

Whilst this, my hand, belonged to my king. 

This twofold office stamped me of twofold nature. 

Oft led my former duty a different road. 

Which I compelled must choose to aid my second, 

And to find the medium often troubled me, 

But when the distinct aim of both these duties 

Crossed — nay, destroyingly neared each other — 

Then did the church enjoin me, against my welfare 

And, be it said, against my disposition, 

To choose the weaker side — my heaven's claim. 

Should I have then deserved thy harsh suspicion .? . . . 



58 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

I had to stand at bay for my religion, 

Deny thy claim, so endeared to my liking. 

At such a moment — when I against thy power 

Inveighed a dutiful and honored warfare — 

Then must I've seemed to you of double meaning, 

And bent but to intrigue against thy power. 

But had'st thou seen how my heart did writhe in pain, 

How it could suffer in bloodless, desperate war, — 

Which love and duty waged incessantly, — 

Then would'st thou loved me better for my honor. 

Far be it, though, from me to criticise 

My master's actions ; guilty did I seem. 

I merely wish, as far as in my power, 

To destroy those lies, resembling sober truth, 

Which spring, like mushrooms, in dark and slimy soil — 

Dark in its malice and slimy through envious spittle — 

And prove to you my lasting loyalty. 

Thence let me look upon this damned wretch, who, 

Armed with a vile assassinating blade, 

Dared to approach my master's sacred body — 

His whom the Lord, through holy rites, anointed. 

Let me behold him who, wrapt in sacrilege. 

Has caused the sacred garb of my holy faith 

To veil his sinister and hellish plot. 

Stand him before me stripped of his liberty. . 

Observe his spirit. His limbs will quake and shiver. 

For God may strike, at any early moment. 

His blasphemous heart and destroy his treacherous arm- 

Let him be brought, and let him whether he can 

Outspeak unto mine eyes— "I am a monk." 

King. 
Soldiers, bring forth the captive monk. 



ACT II: SCENE II. 59 

{Orlandez enters, between soldiers, shackled^ 

Ha ! there 
The villainous wretch ! Render me the reason 
Wherefore you coveted my life, whether guided 
Or misguided. Proclaim the wholesome truth. 
Soil not with a lie thy own last dying hour, 
For die thou must, before the day is ended. 

Orlandez. 

Ye Gods ! has thy brain so little mother's wit ? 

Scent'st thou not in thyself — in thy exploits — 

The rottenness which favored my attempt .-' 

Canst thou not feel its own necessity } 

I will then say it — yes, to this whole assemblage — 

To rape 

{At this moment Delator gives a sign. The soldiers 
strike their shields and drown Orlandez s voice. 
Orlandez tries to speak, bnt cannot be heard on ac- 
count of noise.) 

King {rising). 

You damned Satanic wretch, stop you. 

Hold on to thy lying tongue. This gallows respite 

Misuse it not, which I to thee conceded. 

That you may gloss this misdeed with softening pity. 
{To Oppas.) 

There is the scroundrel, shape our judgment further. 

{Oppas holds up a cross. All assembled bow their heads 
but Orlandez and Oppas ; he looks intensely at Orlan- 
dez, who looks at him.) 

Oppas. 
Herewith I conjure thee — thy soul — by our 



60 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Omniscient Almighty Lord and God, 

Before whose throne thy mislead spirit soon 

Will stand, who weighs our souls, whether just or evil, 

And thereby spendeth blessing or damnation ! 

By Christ, the son of God, who ever stands 

A ready spokesman for his true believers 

Before his father ; and by the Holy Ghost, 

Whose either Self He in Himself embodies, 

Eternally unites, and bears Their blessings : 

Whether thou art entitled to this garment, 

Which, holy in itself, envelops holy thoughts ? 

If not, how did this vesture come to grace thee ? 

Confess it freely. Heap not the sin of falsehood 

In this distress upon thy wicked soul, 

Alas ! without this burdened enough. 

Before thy God the greatest infamy 

Is but to inveigh against the royal king 

A vicious thought. The Lord holds him anointed ! 

ORLANDEZ. 

No, not a monk am I, nor could I be it. 

Too rashly throbs in my youthful breast my heart, 

That I to foreign monkish rules could yield, — 

Could curb my mind. And Gods ! once I was harmless, 

Alike the milking babe, whose unimpassioned 

Food has not as yet poisoned its peaceful mind ; 

Like the swift bird that cleaves the ethereal zone 

Bears within its breast only a joyful song, 

And cares for neither side, and flies on, on, 

Before mine eyes beheld Count Julian's daughter : 

To see her, love her, is one quickened breath. 

But when from me she cruelly was torn. 



ACT II: SCENE II. 61 

Then changed my easy, joyful disposition 

Into its sullen and revengeful sister 

Against my mortal foe, — against her keeper. 

To life it fanned the hatred's slumbering embers, 

Whose presence in my heart I had never dreamed, 

To raging flame. I hid my true designs 

In guise of innocence. I felt as a tiger. 

Choking to gulp the blood of the seducer, 

And my last prayer, after-the assault mishapped. 

Is to redeem this sacred, unflagging oath. 

Which unredeemed doth tear my very entrails. . . . 

{Facing suddenly the king.) 

To slay thee, bastard cur, who dared 

{Delator raises his arm. All the soldiers strike their 
spears against their shields. This noise drowns the 
voice of Orlandez, who apparently raises his voice, 
but unsuccessfidly; then rushes towards the king, who, 
with features knit and foivard bent, waves his hand 
and thunders forth : Soldiers, muffle Orlandez' s 
mouth and drag Orlandez out.) 

King. 

Off with him, 
Lest should my terrible wrath beget my sword 
And tempt it to unhinge his scroundrelly tongue. 
You of infernal blood, — ha ! the brazen features, — 
Stare at me, hellish rascal ! By Alarick ! 

Delator. 
Off! 

{Exit Orlandez.) 



62 count julian de consiegra. 

King. 
Throw into Glaucus' dungeon his carcass-body. 
The fiery appeal of the rack shall cool his madness, — 
Aye, his assassinating temper. Then 
Into the fire with him. Enforce to Glaucus 
With his own head he'll answer for the prisoner. 

{To Oppas.) 
You have once more regained your innocence. 
But mind you, beware, that not too often 
Such doubts shall shake my better poised thought, 
For otherwise thy case may prove thee odd. 
{The king and queen rises ; all with him. The pageant 
files out, and past Oppas. The procession's order is 
reversed — the king and queen first. Oppas stattds 
with head bent, holding a bible in his hands, till all 
exit. Then, throiviyig the bible aivay, he rushes tow- 
ards the front of the stage, and exclaims, overjoyed :) 

Oppas. 
Victorious ! 

{Laughing^ 
Ha ! ha ! ha ! I have gained the day ! 
The serpentine, the zigzag defile through all 
These mountains, uplooming precipices which, 
Obstructing here and overtowering there. 
Destruction frowned upon my sagacious toiling. 
How narrow the lonely path that led me through 
This labyrinth of new arising doubts — 
Insinuating questions — towards salvation ! 
Triumph ! Ha ! ha ! Hold on, King Roderick, 
For me — for my life fear not ! 



A CT II: SCENE II. 63 

{Sneeringly.) 

In thy own justice ? 

But look thee well, lest that thy own should fall. 

Thou intertwinest to already finished vices 

Another graver one. I held it forth. 

It shall precipitate thee from thy throne, 

To lay sprawling at my mercy, — at my feet. 

This unscrupulous, almighty Julian — 

Almighty in his power and unscupulous 

In means — if by infamy his hate be 'roused, 

He'll not permit his only, worshiped daughter, 

The only pride which harbors in his soul, — 

Next to the pride of his renowned ancestry — 

To go to ruin, just to please his loving liege. 

Onward, ambition, haste my furtherance ; 

This victory has sharpened thy dulled teeth ; 

Now undermine him, lay his weakness bare. 

Make him assailable, and then lay on, 

Ye minions, and hurl him to perdition — 

Whom but the hand of Time yet holds secure ; 

But Time will come, and then will be my time. 

{Pondering, and speaking to himself.) 

And you, poor heart, my ambition woke thee also. 

Discord at home } Within myself } Be hushed ! 

Does love yet want to fan to estranged desires 

My once so passionate breast, when o'er flowers of youth 

Stept leisurely my fleet, romantic feet } 

Is this, thy fluttering, caused, moved by a breath 

From the realm of love > Those now forgotten zephyrs. 

Growing to hurricanes, if passion be not filled, 

Which sweep the youthful, senseless mind to wreck > 

Tut, tut, poor heart, stay now thy foolish throbbing. 



64 CO UNT J ULIAN DE C ONSIEGRA. 

My body is able yet to sport a woman. 

Thou shalt have Egilona, but keep thee quiet. 

She'll be the amiable sort of spoil, 

The pleasant dewdrop, to quench my easy passions. 

Great men care not for sensual gluttony. 

Thou stand a beacon above or below my aim ; 

Not to the right nor left, but straight ahead, ■ 

To save me shifting on my onward road : 

Dark are my ways, but thou dost shine in beauty : 

Thence be my beacon, queen ; towards thee, light, 

My tender glances be riveted on high 

To revenge my church, to further Destiny. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT II: SCENE III. 65 

SCENE III. 

Oppas, Moravius, afterwards ROMANO. 

MORAVIUS. 
At your request, my lord, I bring thee tidings. 
The prayer for relief has been denied 
By the ungrateful king, for whom my blood 
I have spilled in hard-fought battles, my strength 

wasted : 
Alas ! crippled and old, a father of a family, 
Stares poverty at me in tattered rags. 
He thinks me portioned off well for all my service 
In my estate, its forest-furrowed plains. 
Which, so magnanimous, he willed me of the prize 
I won for him on many a hard-fought battle. 
Had I but stayed there, at my country seat ; 
But no, he through such little peevish sayings, 
To have his heroes around him, shine at court, 
To his state as a satellite he bade me. 
To borrow my light — darkness as its return. 
To stake my lot in Toledo's happy walls. 
You know the finery of dress, the costly household. 
Which breeds great havoc, even to greater means. 
And now, my all is scattered to the winds. 
He leaves me drudge along on poverty's highway — 
Not me alone, alas ! my noble kindred. 
Nor land nor office holds he forth to me ; 
But should my innocent daughter press my suit .... 

Oppas {interrupting). 
Enough, my lord, pollute not these virgin halls 
With this abhorrent, this ungrateful tale. 



66 COUNT JULIAN DK CONSIEGRA. 

Enough, by the Gods ! for I could list no more. 
I will assist you — and, through you, your family — 
Yet not a sacrifice shall meet my pleasure, 
Except you stand yourself and all your bondsmen. 
Whenever needful, to my valiant colors. 
To some one thou must be vassal when at war, 
Like I, with all my troops, support the king. 
'Tis hard for me to gain my master's grace : 
Thence would I multiply my numerous forces. 
Which, well provided, ever obey his voice. 
I think to serve his pleasure by such actions. 

MORAVIUS. 
With all my heart, illustrious prince, my liege. 
Ever my prowess shall exalt thy strength. 
Oh ! let me kiss this God-sent, friendly hand. 
Which from destruction raiseth one so proud. 
Without indignity, and shields my misery. 
{Moravius kisses Op pas' hand. Op pas opens a door in 
the wall aud takes out a casket?) 

Oppas. 
Here have I collected the surplus of that brook, 
Which flows incessantly by being guarded, 
From the resources of my bishopric. 
It rests here quietly, and then flows forth again 
To help who are distressed. Receive, Moravius, 
What thine hard-hearted king withheld from thee, 
And profit from thy past experience ! 
{Gives him papers and rolls, which Moravius receives) 
Depart at once. Leave Toledo's idle life. 
In the country alone there shines thy star, thy fortune. 



ACT II: SCENE III. 67 

There is the hearth on which thy future prospers. 

Here are you but a bird of circumstance, 

A dangerous thing to rear posterity. 

List ! Should your work detain you, to go in person 

Into this war, which lies now at our door, 

Then send your bondsmen to me without a leader. 

I will embody them in mine, and lead them. 

War hinders ever the steady, silent progress, 

Dashes to pieces the quiet success of man. 

Farewell. 

MORAVIUS. 

Thy wisdom be my future guide. 

{Exit Moravius) 

Oppas. 
The smallest foe can cover us with losses, 
Whilst as a friend he lends a helping hand : 
Like a horse which dasheth spirited ahead, 
Too fast to note the blocks upon his way, 
And stumbling, recovers again his former gait, 
If but the rider lifts the easy rein. 
This be my motto in all the hesitations 
Which, by their mist, prevent a prying insight, 
For small I am and great are all my aims. 

{Romano enters.) 
Be welcome, chosen of the all-wise God. 
He who gave strength to David's youthful arm 
Can fill the old in like emergency. 

{Romano, speaking in a hollow, sepulchral voice ^ 

Romano. 
A raging fire it surges through all my body. 



68 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

It drieth my soul, confounds wholly my reason. 

Devoured it has my once so potent brain. 

My arm is mighty, but destitute of knowledge. 

Oppas. 
Be joyful, Romano, thou feel'st His heavenly spirit. 
This simple blessedness for good or evil. 
Yet thy arm is strong ! Romano, thou art blessed. 
Did the first man understand what good or evil 
Before the serpent, to our sorrow, taught him .-* 
Canst thou not pray to God to guide thy arm } 

Romano. 
Father, I cannot, — my brain, — oh ! feel this heat. 
I cannot pray to him. My lips they wish : 
Prostrate to lie before his godlike picture 
In humbleness, and to writhe in pain and sorrow. 
Is all my intellect. I hope in vain. 
Why does He nor His Son appear to me } 
Oh ! for His holy angels to bring me comfort. 
Thou pray for me, thou messenger of God, 
And guide me, sainted father. Oh ! keep away 
Satan, his trickery. He will — he will try 
To sway my thoughtless arm to sin. 

{Falls to the floor, in a kneeling position^ 

Do save me. 

Oppas. 
Now list, Romano. Hark, we know His will. 
In the past night I prayed again to know 
His wise intent in these uncertain issues. 
And hardly had its wording passed my lips. 
When angels swiftly carried it on high, 



ACT 11: SCENE III. 69 

And held it forth to Him to pass His judgment. 
The prayer strengthened me — it hugged me closely 
In peaceful slumber. Suddenly I waked, 
Dazzled by light, and voices singing sweetly 
Went through these dormant halls, when all at once 
They ceased, and one voice powerful rang 
(It chilled the very marrow in my bones) : 
" Oppas, despair not, for Romano is 
My sheathed sword. I have pervaded him. 
His wisdom cannot bear thus multiplied 
My dreadful strength to slay and to do justice. 
Thou hear My wish — it is to be his law. 
He shall save Orlandez forthwith, my latest Paulus, 
Who shall restore to grace my holy church. 
He lays in bondage— Romano he shall free him ! " 
Then heaven's fairest melody resounded. 
It lessened and, growing weaker, fainter still. 
It died away, and quiet surrounded all 
Not my enlightened brain. 

{Romano, who, m feverish excitement, had been kneeling 
before Oppas, has arisen during the speaking of the 
later lines, and, with head looking upwards, stands 
entranced. Oppas, on pronouncing the word " brain," 
touches something on the table near zvhich he is 
standing — a terrific crash — Romano throws himself 
on the ground, and with uplifted hands.) 

Romano. 

I hear, my Lord, 
I am willed. Thy word is my commandment. 
Thou hast shown me my part — my path to tread. 
I shall save Orlandez, should even through blood 



to COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Up to my knees — through murder — I have to wade. 
My strong — even venomed — arm shall be the bridge 
Which leads from the portals — aye, from the realms — 

of Death 
Thy noble Paulus, to live again unharmed. 
Thou who dost want him, I'll fulfill Thy wish. 

(/« a more quietened voice, and more to himself?) 
Alas ! my own poor heart may dread the work. 
I know this Glaucus well — his present keeper. 

{More feri'ently^ 
He will obey Thee, God. But if he would not, 
Then shall his blood be the oil to smooth the hinges 
Of Orlandez's prison doors. This dagger be the key 
To open the locks and set Thy Paulus free. 
{Sinks down exhausted.) 

Oppas. 
The harder to thee, to thy innate gentleness, 
His work appears, the greater is thy merit. 
Aye, in the other world will He advance 
Thy secret actions in open blessedness. 
There will they shine in glory. Send me word soon, and 
Be circumspect, and shield our holy church. 

Romano. 
Bless me, O Lord, God, through Thy disciple ! 
{Oppas places his hand on Romano s head) 

Oppas. 

Amen. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT II: SCENE IV. 71 

SCENE IV. 
A costly-furnished and large room. 

EgiloNA, Agnes ; afterwards, KiNG, 
Delator a7id Soldiers. 

{Queen reading a scroll. Agues enters and hurries 
towards her.) 

Agnes. 
Beloved queen, extend to me protection. 
Give me advice, I am lost in this distress. 
For very bashfulness my lips refuse 
To utter the feelings of my startled soul. 
Shame curls my lips to give but the sound 
To such well-founded fears, they are so averse 
To chastity ; oh ! aid me — aid thy child. 
The tongue ever so lively lies motionless 
Within my mouth, shunning to wound thee, mother ! 
But when such degradation stings me frantic. 
Then must I, though I love thee as a daughter, 
I must speak the word which, through jealousy. 
Must wound thy pride— then save me from thy husband. 
Liberate my soul or free my body 
From this sensual chaos. Tear this spider net, 
Surrounding from every side thy helpless girl, 
Drawing its meshes closer, stronger yet. 
It must draw me within this goal of foulness. 
It must dishonor me. Remember my father ! 
Queen, mother, you know the beating of this heart ; 
Never did sensuality lash it to quickened gait, 



72 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

How would I then have taught him by teasing signs 

Or roused his torrent of wish and foul desire ? 

Several times has watched for me the king. 

Alas ! I never dreamed what now has happened. 

A monk for this once warded from me this blow — 

He stepped between him and his ill designs — 

But on to-morrow they might change their meaning 

And be a crime — a curse on you, on me. 

Not enough to smart under his last his ill success, 

When he beheld my horrified detest, 

Instead of feeling remorse and shunning me, 

This strong rebuff has fanned his passion higher. 

I must succumb, against my sacred will. 

Except you save me. Remember my dead mother. 

Thine and my own dishonor are at stake, 

If chastity succumbs to brutal force. 

Thine ever-loving spirit, displayed to me 

On every day in even smallest trifles, 

Oh ! let it overflood me : — I'll be silent 

About the other day ; only save me, for 

Never could my lips full chastity reveal 

His rude success, — alas ! Death must mate me. 

Send me away but from him before too late. 

Egilona. 

Is it then true .-* The sinful man ! 

Come to my heart, my dear, beloved child. 

{Embracing her, then holding Agnes at a distance and 

scanning her features.) 
And dared he .-* Heavens ! 

{^Looking into her face again) 

You should entertain 



ACT II: SCENE IV. 73 

Foul thoughts ? No, Agnes, thy heart I see too plainly 
Within those eyes ! My husband ! 

I will assist you — fly ! 
Ah ! see how happily your eyes will sparkle. 
Are you so glad to leave your second mother, 
Who loves you — loves your chaste and childish ways ? 
Come to my heart once more. Once more I wish — 
I long to feel you clasped to a mother's bosom 
Before I part from you. You will guard my honor } 

{Agnes nods, the queen holds her off again.) 
I know the language which thine eyes do speak. 
{King and Delator enter with soldiers. Delator motions 

them to stay back. King and Delator conversing 

hastily^ 

King. 

Behold, this sight delights, refreshes me. 
So daughter-like, so like a loving mother ! 

( To an officer?) 
Athaulf, attend th's noble lady at once 
To the red tower. Keep her well guarded. 
None but the leech shall see her within her rooms. 

Queen. 
Husband, recall the words. Remember .... 

King {interrupting'). 
Remember you well what I have said. Begone ! 
{Exit Agnes with guard?) 

King {to queen). 
And by my direful wrath dare not disturb me, 
To bespeak her cause, nor believe her idle talk. 
Methinks I bear more semblance to the lion 



74 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Than to the lamb when I . . . . 

{Interrupting himself, and milder^ 

Is it not clear 
The claws of sickness have espied her body 
And mind for prey? Pitiful sight, alas! 
Did you behold the vacantly staring look 
Of her once rational eyes ? 

Delator. 

And this excitement ! 
Truly 'tis said, a burdened brain can only 
Overtax for naught its so obedient limbs. 

King. 
Poor child. Delator, hast thou seen the doctor ? 
What does he say about her strange conduct ? 

Delator. 
Her brain is not at ease and may give 'way. 
Complete rest alone, naught else, is his advice. 
This may as yet restore its graded functions. 
And so may temper her strange, deluded frenzy. 

Queen. 
Might I not watch to feed her little wants } 
Oh ! do, my lord, she is an orphan now. 

King. 

Aye, worse than that. Complete rest only can 

Delator. 
This is the leech's advice — he guards our health, 

King. 
We must obey him, then, implicitly, 



A CT 11: SCENE IV. 7b 

If we our daughter's welfare have at heart. 
{Drummers at a distance. King waves to queen, who 

exit. Op pas enters with knights and soldiers. 

Oppas in armor.) 

King. 
Welcome, Prince Oppas. Thanks to thee, ye all. 
Thou saved'st my life to-day in this revolt, 
Stirred by the slaves before my palace doors. 
Here is my hand, forgotten be suspicion 
Which I against thee ever held till now. 
Oppas will pardon — I seldom ask for pardon. 

{Oppas kneels and kisses the hand of the king.) 
Rise, valiant bishop, methinks thou swingest well 
In even mastery the censor and the sword, 
And, by the Gods ! the armor suits you better 
Than does the miter, which the church prescribes. 
Thou art the strongest vassal of my state, 
And in my grace thou art forever done. 
I love the valiant man, I hate the scribbler. 

Oppas. 
Exalt me not too high, most gracious king, 
'Tis nothing but a duty 'mongst the knighted 
To help those pressed too hard. Thy bravery 
Would have extricated thee without my aid, 
But, espying thee in danger, it was natural 
To serve my liege whenever he needed me. 
But thanks thee, gracious king. Thou knowest me well. 
{Officer enters in haste ^ 

King. 
What is thy office .-• 



76 count julian de consiegra. 

Officer. 

Most illustrious king, 
Orlandez has fled ! Only with force could he 
Have slipped his bondage, and by the aid of many. 
We found his keeper dead before the cell. 
Stabbed through the heart. Who did commit the 
crime .... 

King. 

By Alarick's death ! Why stayest thou here ? Begone ! 
Off, after him ! Cursed thy unlucky message. 
He be assured my lasting, liberal thanks 
Who brings Orlandez's head. 

{Exit all except Delator^ 

By the eternal Gods ! 
This is an evil blow. I fear his mouth 
If we recapture not this spying rascal. 

Delator. 
Rest thee at ease, they will retake him soon. 

King. 
Ha ! ha ! Eglia plotting. 

Delator. 

How ever changeful 
Womanly nature is. They imagine for awhile 
They could not live without some certain favorite, 
And in the twinkling of an eye they find 
That her departure will restore their happiness. 

King. 

You saw the ardor by which they held embraced 
Their very souls. 



ACT II: SCENE IV. 77 

Delator. 

The queen upsets all reason. 
A jealous wife does not love so fervently 
That woman whom the husband rather likes. 
{Laughing)) 
King. 
Agnes must stay in durance, to prevent her 
From seeking aid at present ; afterwards 

Delator. 

She will be tame. She must not find her father, 
To tell her tales. 

King. 
He has me within his hands. 
Unscrupulous, as ever his nature stood, 
He'd turn the point of his sword against my kingdom 
Instead of the Saracen. 

Delator. 

Him would befit such act. 

King. 

Thou speak'st the truth. Delator. 
{Pondering?) 

Alas, commenced, 
My passion drives me on ! 

Delator. 

The worst, my master, 
She cannot last. This hectic mortal stain 
Upon her cheek — a pity for such beauty ! 
She loves thee, king. I saw her eyes, believe : 



78 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

A fortress must be stormed to give away, 
Provided gold can't open wide its doors ! 

King. 

You think she loves me ? 

Delator. 
What female could withstand thee ? 
You know me well — I am a judge of worhen. 
Once thine, and she is thine forever. 

King. 

But 
If she grants not 

Delator. 

Then take it, almighty king ! 
Accursed those things which lie around the streets. 

King. 
Come as it might ! 

Delator. 
This is the only road 
Which leads thee to thy willing paradise. 
The rest you can entrust to me. Has my king 
Beheld me staggering back whilst in his service .'' 
Many a time my load appeared too great. 
Wait ; every loophole shall guard my loyal cunning, 
To wipe out consequence. ... 

King. 

If death should call } 

Delator. 

Then will I engage the medicos. They'll toot. 

They'll trumpet their willing lies throughout thy 

kingdom :. 



ACT II: SCENE IV. 79 

Her death was due to some venomous sickness, 
Which might have spread, if allowed to run at large, 
Or reason may have failed her beauteous frame 
And drained its strength. They will proclaim a lie, 
So full of wisdom in their pedantic way. 
And what they say beheves the foolish throng. 

King {laughingly). 
Because big words tickle their clumsy throats, 
And brain and throat will influence each other. 

De L ATOR {laughing) . 
They are their murderers at law, God knows it. 
And yet they honor them with greatest rev'rence. 

King {pondering, all at once breaks forth .•) 
Come, pleasures of love, subdue my passionate nature. 
Which is innate to me and baffles my reason ! 
My late misfortune shall highten yet thy sweetness, 
Alike to the soldier who, after a heated march, 
Doth rest his limbs and sip the cooling drink 
For which he thirsted, toiled incessantly : 
Thus shall regale me now this sweet repose, 
And fill my thirsty soul with cooling balm. 
The more resistance, the sweeter doth it taste. 
Nature demands it, if my life be cast. 

CURTAIN. 



80 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

SCENE V. 

{A prison ; Agnes alone, afterwards OrlandEZ ; 
Agnes in a dazed-like mood ; her hair dishevelled ; 
she sits on the floor, huddled together, her hands 
folded in her lap, staring before her.) 

Agnes. 
Father ! He has carried out this villainy, 
Which cruelly cuts, annihilates my pride. 
None but a lost one would gloat over its result, 
None but a sacreligious cur would feel its joy. 
Tears, protestations are in vain with beasts. 
{Striking her hands to her face.) 
Accursed he, and revenge be the first offshoot, 
Which I shall tend before my parting hour 
Has come. I must die. This is my sacred duty, 
Upheld through centuries' long wear, and die 
I will. My father, sainted mother, hear me. 
'Tis in my heart, for I detest dishonor. 
Ha ! from my temper womanhood is wrung. 
It was a brave act which his strength achieved, 
But iced it has my forgiving woman-nature. 
Now feel the metamorphosis, thou king ! 

{Pointing to a scroll upon a stool before her.) 
There lies thy judgment ; it is thy warrant to die. 
{Sinking her head dejectedly and in a spirit of reverie^ 
How happy I, whilst innocence yet clasped 
Me to its bosom, how childishly happy was I. 
Not alone my spirit, for the body grieves us sadly. 

{Rising^f 
Not for this world, not for those loftly heavens. 



ACT II: SCENE V. 81 

Would I improperly have parted with it. 
And he, with cunning, with animal, brutal force, 
Dared to dislodge me from all my sacred holdings. 
But, Roderick, to thee judgment draweth nigher. 

(Lost in reverie.^ 
How sweet were all my former childish joys. 
And little did suffice to ease my longings. 
Nor could I ever greed it to myself ; 
Overjoyed, I would divide it with my father. 
He stroked caressingly my prattling head : 
I was the blessing of his advancing years. 
And angel he called me, the image of his wife ! 
Alas ! with him disappeared my happiness, 
And darker night enshrouded my childish wit 
Than the realm of hell could realize as dark. 
This lamed the strong will of my nature's soul. 
Which I in fortune had tried, never in misfortune. 
Ah, woe to me, to my inexperienced self! 
The queen she was the only star of hope, 
And warming me she did mislead my force. 
Hope, ever light-footed, flies on useless wings, 
And lames our will, lulls us to foolish sleep. 
The queen unluckily bore me misfortune, 
Though unbeknown to her. My own stern nature 
Could not 've been tampered with and bided time. 
Naught could have made me tarry in my flight. 
Me — the firm, inflexible, I hoped and lost. 
Alas ! I feared for her, — God, see my misery. 
Oh God have mercy, if mortals have it not. 

{As if speaking to the king?) 
Look you, this infamy shall bear you thorns 



B%, COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

As thick as wild roses ; the scavenger awaits thee. 
He'll prick thy fountain of blood ; but no, my father 
He shall avenge the outrage on his daughter. 
From death I call to thee : Father, revenge thy child ! 
How shall I wing to him this mournful message, 
That he may learn the wrongs which I have suffered .-* 

(^Throwing Jierself on her knees and praying^ 
Oh God, thou who dost regulate this world, 
Forget not me, the individual being, 
This outraged maid, in all her loneliness. 
Thou who dost list to the prattling of a babe. 
Which maybe prays to thee for some trivial toy, 
Oh hear my fervent pleading for the sake of justice. 
Thou Omniscient, thou art the ever just ! 
i^She kneels^ wringing her hands ; a stone flies through 

the zuindoiv.) 
Thy helping hand, — (astounded) be praised Almighty 

God! 

You here, Orlandez .-• Come, Orlandez, come ! 

{She withdraivs from the windozv.) 
Ah, yet this trial. Poor heart, this is the last. 
Now gather yourself in strength, which yet I can 
Possibly call my own, to play the false to him 
Who loved me always so devotedly ! 
Only this, — no more, — now tears, if swell your springs 
Ye must, reverse your flow. So, burst not forth. 
And thus belie my calm resolved course. 
{Orlandez enters through the window in a monk' s habit; 
lie throzvs it off.) 

Orlandez. 
Oh, Agnes ! Here at last I find my darling. 



ACT II: SCENE V. 83 

Now fly with me, recross this present threshold, 
Which joyous at heart and hopeful once you crossed. 
Its icy breath has chilled thy harmonious self! 
Alack I feel thy looks, they are so weary, 
They have absorbed this cold and marble breath. 
Oh, chilly atmosphere ! Come, warm at my heart. 
It throbbed so oft to list again to thine ! 
( They embrace each other and hold themselves ; she tears 
herself away) 
Agnes. 
Orlandez, Gods ! How we have altered both ! 
I thought Death had already gathered thee 
Into his fold. 

Orlandez. 

Behold me, love, ask not. 

A monk gave me this freedom, though the keeper 

Had with his blood to seal my warrant to live. 

{Agnes sJirinks frotn him.) 
Not I, my child, — it was his bloody act. 
Before I could prevent, alas, pitiful sight. 
The cowardly blade had dashed through his heart. 
He died a man who did his duty well. 
But now to work, before it be too late. 
Eve's shadowy wings are nestling upon Toledo. 
Heat and excitement have slackened their watch. 
Because of a riot, which has spread suddenly 
To the portals of the palace. Haste thee, Agnes, 
With ease we'll leave this now deserted tower 
Without danger. . . . 

Agnes. 
Let it be so ; yes, I am willed. 



84 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Before you utter though another word 
Send off this letter to Algesiras to 
{SJie sits dozvn to W7'itc and speaking while zvriting) 

My Father. 
It gives him news, the firm conviction 
Of his daughter's intent — nay, more, it cleanseth her 
From over-hasty action. Now here, Orlandez ; 

i^She hands to him the letter) 
And by this pure love, you must swear to me, 
Fulfill my bidding with all trust and dispatch 
Before thy quick return. 

Orlandez. 
I swear, Agnes. 

Agnes. 
And on this love which moves my very soul 
Avoid all danger and make thy errand prosper. 
Should it succeed ill, then, Heavens ! — No, it cannot. 
Thou must return to me full life and spirit. 

Orlandez. 

I swear it to thee by our mutual love. 

{Exit Orlandez; Agnes tJiongJitfjilly pondering?) 

Agnes. 
Rises within me, nursed by this ray of hope. 
My natural love for life } A thousandfold, no ! 
I shall stay true to the custom of my people, 
Which centuries through has stood untarnished, 
And centuries have made its usage sacred. 
A life dishonored stands against myself, 
Even should sweet love its blasted memory blend ! 
This lie to Orlandez bears heavily upon me. 



ACT II: SCENE V. 85 

Ne'er before have I even broached a falsehood. 
Oh, father, grant me thy forgiveness ! 

{She draws a ring from her finger^ 
Oh, mother — thou whom I have never known — 
I know thou givest my wavering thoughts approval. 
This ring has been with thee through all the dangers 
Which thou incurred in following my father. 
Never thou dreamest that this should give to thy child 
The death thou wert not forced to court yourself, 
And yet didst always fear : — nor that this ring 
Would from dishonor save thy only child. 
And when thy husband ventured into this war 
He gave this ring to me as a sweet memorial. 
He showed to me its hidden poisonous treasure, 
And this engraved motto, " Honor or Death," 
Encircled by the lovely wreath of myrtle ! 
It is grafted into my heart ; — I am thy daughter. 
Thus shapes the mother's forecast the issue's future ! 
How little didst thou think to point to me 
The path which I, thy body's fruit, would travel. 
Thy finger carried at the same time the poison 
Whose baneful nature should kill the blossoming life 
In after years. 

{She throws the poison into a cup.) 
Yet for a parting prayer 
To feed my anxious soul. Till then, ye poisons, 
Till then ferment and spend a certain death. 

{She kneels before the statue of the Virgin^ 
Though righted I am not to claim thy station 
Nor to enslave this name forever gracing Thee 
To this my coil ; for Time will never change it. 
Not by my fault I fell from this thine order. 



86 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

A villian tore me from thy holy precincts. 
Thence send towards my chaster, purer soul 
Thy virgin eyes, those penetrating judges, 
And hear my prayer, which begs to find Thy heart. 
{She takes a harp and sings): 

Ave Maria ! Hear the virgin's prayer. 
Bereft of love she neareth to Thy throne. 
Wounded at heart, she flees the world, her slayer 
Profaned, yet pure she clings to Thee alone. 
Oh may this act, dear Virgin, move thee mild, 
Oh, mother, hear thy guiltless, weeping child. 

Send through thine eyes approval of my deed. 
As yet the poor heart needs a silent word. 
Withdraw them not because an ancient creed 
Has lashed my virtue to my life's support. 
Oh, Virgin, hear the virgin, though defiled, 
Oh, darling mother, hear thy helpless child. 

Forgive, but part I must, to leave this woe. 
Look to Thy Son above in silent prayer. 
His dread omnipotence it chills my soul, 
That I self-willed throw off all mortal care. 
My soul stands off aghast and blushed in pain, 
Oh, mother, let thy child not plead in vain. 

Hark to the whisperings of my humble strain. 
And stay by me, when drained this poisonous bowl. 
Claim me thine own, when angels might grow weak, 
And keep from Satan my immortal soul. 
Oh, Virgin, shield me in Thy Virgin-love, 
And take me to Thy blissful hights above. 

{She glides down, the Jiand slips from the harp) 



ACT II: SCENE V. 87 

Farewell, you world, you cheated me so basely. 
Farewell, ye all, that once refreshed my mind ! 
How happily have I wandered through ye medows, 
And trodden in dust I part. 

{SJie rushes to the window^ 

Now, earth, farewell. 
{She listens^ 
Ha ! he comes — his face radiant with joy ! 
His errand has prospered ! — Now, mother, take thy child. 
{She drinks the poison ; Orlandez enters^ 

Orlandez. 
I've sent the letter off. The courier has left 
Toledo already, and thou, my love, art mine ! 
Tenfold I told him will thy father serve, — 
Reward his speed. My Agnes — why so pale — 
Does this success unnerve thee ? 

Agnes. 

Alas, I am dying. 
Forgive the falsehood I used to gain my end. 
Know, then, that Roderick has dishonored me. 

{She writhes in pain?) 
I cast this frame to cast away my shame. 
Take with thee now the soiled remnants of my being. 
And bury me in holy, baneless earth, 
Far, — far away from the perfidy of this villain. 
I feel — death creeping o'er me, — haste, Orlandez, 

On to my father, confirm my letter, — Virgin ! 

Stay not in fruitless raving — Time is precious. 
Misuse it not to strike the villain's life. 
The letter brings to him what he deserves. 
For he has shaped his fate, he falls — I fell ! 



88 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Oh lift me easier in thy gentle arm ! 

Oh, heavens ! my heart — Orlandez, fare-thee-well 

Bid speed to my father — rush to him — mother 

Now, Virgin, stand by me 

Orlandez. 

Darling, one word ! 

Agnes. 

Orlandez. 
{Agjtes dies.) 

Orlandez. 
And for eternity those eyes 
Are closed to me, these two bright, loving stars, 
The light of my life, are dark and dull forever. 
Hopeless and friendless, such drives me Destiny ! 
Oh thus would I love to die, thee in my arms. 
But no, beloved, thou bad'st me keep my life. 
Thy last wish be the last act of my strength. 
I'll take thee with me, carry thee in my arms. 
Far from this hell, where virtue fell to lust ! 
Aye, love alone shall bury thee, beloved. 
Ye heavens, ye had this pain in store for me, 
Have I deserved it at your cruel hands ? 
Here — all, for which I'd have sold the being of my soul, 
Which could have been my heaven whilst it lived, 
Rests now within my arms, alas ! cold and dead ; 
And I to wander along my lonely road. 
And even to revenge her I am forbidden. 
Who robbed me of this bliss and then destroyed it. 
Nor can I stay secluded, caressing this form 
And watching its decay, to lie beside it 



ACT II: SCENE V. 89 

Till death approaches and dust with dust would mingle. 

Her last impressive words they bind me firmly : 

On then to Algesiras, carry me ye feet, 

After the earth she loved receives this coil ; 

And do not stagger averse to life and will, 

Our rescue to complete shall be your zest ; 

And after we are saved, then comes your rest. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT III. 

SCENE I. 



To the right the fortress of Algesiras ; upon the tongue 
of layid stretching out between oceans the tents of 
the Saracens ; palms ; tropical scenery ; moon- 
light, Julian, afterwards Orlandez. 



Julian. 
Here, with all its carnage, the battle raged the hottest. 
I almost thought that valor was in vain, 
That Chance had taken precedence of Virtue. 
I rushed, rebounding back at every charge, 
Upon the countless myriads of Moors, 
Whilst they in turn, spurned by fanaticism. 
Would seek resentless death amongst my ranks. 

{Julian walks to and fro, looking towards the ocean)} 
Like wave uprooted carried mountain high 
By northern storms sweep everything before, 
Until they dash upon the rocky beach. 
And though they try to grapple, to take hold 
Upon the roughness of their enemy 
(A heroic struggle, nevertheless in vain), 
They are uprooted, are flung off pell-mell, 
And all their unity in atoms showered 
They fall exhausted at their victor's feet. 
To kiss the pedestal of their destruction. 
Gods ! how my heroes stood this dauntless deluge. 
These are my Goths, the children of my training : 



ACT III: SCENE I. 9l 

Their iron armor is their only joy, 

It is the emblem of obedience to their chief, 

Their highest aim to die for Fatherland. 

And such we all were, when these locks were golden, 

When all the earth resounded, crouched with fear 

Before our armies in their deadly strifes. 

But those at home are women-hearted fops, 

To show their pretty figure is all their warfare, 

Their armor glitters yellow in chiseled gold 

And profligate have grown the weakened sons 

Of mighty sires, who once did rule the earth. 

Already I see the days of glory past 

And drawing nigher the all-perverting steps. 

When these almighty structures shall be ruined 

Which bravery cemented with our blood. 

Avaunt ! — our eagle holds his head on high 

And soars aloft on his outstretched wings. 

A Moorish fiend can never stay his flight. 

{A courier enters with a message in his hands ^ 
A courier, ha ! — whence dost thou come so late .? 

Courier. 
Toledo sends thee greeting, 

Julian. 

Be welcome, son. 
Hast thou a message from my darling child } 

{Messenger hands him a packet?) 
Yes, it comes from her. 

{He kisses it and looking at it closely?) 

Though I see no more 
The wonted mellow idiom of her writing, 



9^ COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Which like her life flows easy and untroubled. 

{Looks at it again)) 
She cannot help to miss the gruff old man 
Whose heart is sad to be thus separated. 
(He tries to open the letter; some idea seems to haunt him) 
Why tremblest thou hand ? — Is it from pure delight 
Or dost thou shake because thou handiest evil, 
Unwonted tidings ? 

{He throws the packet to the messetiger.) 
Open it ! 

Courier. 

Thy servant. 
{jfulian reads the letter hastily.') 

Julian. 

Almighty heavens ! 

(jfulian falls to the ground ; the courier stoops to help 

him.) 

Why stay'st thou here .? 
{Arising and speaking to messenger.) 
Wouldst gaud thyself on Consiegra's grief.? 
Thou bloodless mongrel ! — hence, I tell thee, hence ! 

{Courier exit.) 
The heavens alone shall see this heart-struck man, 
The speechless stars shall be the only eyes 
To peer upon my terrible destruction. 
But no, it cannot be, only foolish play 
Has turned my brain, the evening is hot and sultry. 
The mind is always prone to conceive our fear. 
I shall read it again, shall read it aloud, 
And hearing will correct my vision's doubt. 



ACT 111: SCENE I. ' 93 

{He reads the letter in an absent-minded manner?^ 
"Take notice, father, that I have resolved 
To strangle this body, on which so basely 
The king has dared to commit a sacrilege. 
Never again could I behold thee, father, 
Never could my eyes crouch guilt'ly unto thine 
And bear so blameless such a blameful life. 
Long had the king's eye followed my every step, 
And great had been my care to shun his presence, 
Till rudely he assailed me in his gardens. 
Only Orlandez delayed this threatened sorrow. 
Which now in grief tears my despairing heart. 
And forces me to court untimely death ! 
He threw me into prison, and in a cell 
Thy daughter fell a plaything to his lust. 
Thou know'st thy child ! — I act like thy own daughter, 
Who rather grim death as a husband does embrace 
Than lives a life downtrodden by dishonor. 
Thou art my father, I act within our customs. 
Swear thou revenge upon thy daughter's shame. 
Show to the Goths . . . thou art a Consiegra." 
{Julian stands entranced-like ; he crushes the letter and 
stamps it into the ground?) 

Ye gracious Gods ! My child— No ! My child is dead ! 
She is no more. I did have once a daughter. 
And she is gone, — yes, lonely is the path. 
Alone I stand, crushed in the dust — dishonored. 
Ha ! to avenge her ! A plaything to his lust ! 
Brave girl ! Thy blood has ceased its harmless flow. 
In dungeon dark, my own blood so dishonored. 
A disport for his whim .^ Her own blood still, aye, 



94 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Redoubled it has my own pulsating heart, 

And dashes it through my veins like molten fire, 

To find an outlet for its brimful whirl ! 

Aye, break thou forth ye angels of revenge ! 

Quake thou beneath me, blood-begored earth ! 

Unhinge thyself, thou firmament above ! 

Bury everything beneath thee in a flash 

Into the fathomless abyss of hell ! 

If I'll not drudge and dredge and plan and plot, 

If I'll not expiate this dastardness, 

If I'll not hurl this cur from his mighty throne, 

A plaything to awake a beggar's mirth ; 

So that in future days from mouth to mouth 

Shall go the tale of accursed Julian's deed 

And fright the prattling baby in its cradle. 

Thou whom Hell calls her master issue forth, 

Demand thine own disciple, claim me thine own for 

A hellish design to stay this hellish scoundrel, 

That I abate her restless, filial manes 

{He sinks exhausted to the ground and rolls in agony, 

gasping for breath, air ; rises.) 
I must grow calm, this endless villainy 
Will tear the living flesh from its support. 

{He listens and looks up.) 
Ha ! — there ! — Orlandez ? 

Orlandez. 

'Tis I, Count Julian, 
I come but to substantiate her message 
And be a peer, a helpmate in thy plans. 
I saw her die — disgraced 



ACT III: SCENE I. 95 

Julian. 

Hold on, enough ! 



Thou who hast loved my noble, worthy daughter. 
Thou knowest what I have lost, what he dishonored ! 
Nay, more, canst measure well begrudgingly 
What deeds of hell can balance well his own. 
See ! yonder, the tents outstanding in relief 
Against the dark, dull night, white, in their purity 
They harbor for us Mahomet's countless hordes. 
There is thy cauldron Vengeance, where thou brewest, 
There dwells the power and with thee success. 

Orlandez. 
Unfold thy heart to me, I know thee not ! 

Julian. 

Awake, brother in arms ! 

{He shakes him) 

I thrashed to-day these Moors, 
Drove them away from Spain's well-guarded doors, 
And slew their thousands, like well-ripened wheat 
Falls to the sickle in the reaper's hand. 
Abashed and stunned they flew like frightened sheep 
Before my valorous, undaunted soldiers. 
But with them I can override King Roderick, 
Can slay this hound of hell, his hellish kin. 

Orlandez. 
Is such thy plan } Canst thou not readily 
Adopt another to ruin our common foe .? 

{Julian shaking his head contemptuously.^ 
The pillaging Moor wilt thou embark into Spain, 
Willst make her feed their fierce, remorseless hordes 



96 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

And make her feel their cruel savage yoke ? 
My native country overrun by Moors : 
No, never ! — by the living Gods I'll not 
A helpmate be to such infernal plot. 

Julian. 
Green stayed not thy vengeance, chitty face ! 
The tooth of all decaying time has smoothened, 
Has dried thy tears and quenched thy former wrath. 
Thou wouldst have loved my daughter, pretty boy, 
Wouldst dillydallied with her, passed your time, 
But when grim vengeance, like Medusa's orbs, 
Should petrify all intervening passions. 
Leaving the will unfettered for our arm — 
When Death, so hideous to lover's purring coo. 
Shakes dangling bones and skulls before thine eyes. 
Then shirk'st thou, flirt upon thy patriotism 
Upon this common-place, evasive shoulder 
Thy promises, thy wrath — and bidst me stop ? 
{Rises himself above him ajid speaking in a more confi- 
dential yet more sarcastic man7ter.) 
But let us divide our great, our glorious task. 
Thou must keep quiet about my daughter's fate, 
About my sumptuous repast — there now, take 
Thy portion in advance, thou pretty brat. 
Hell shall dumbfound thee ! 

{With hellish laughter he stabs him to the heart.) 

Take thy patriotism ! 

{Orlandez falls dead, while Jidian, lingering over him:) 
Be thou the first drop of this gurgling stream. 
Which, growing vast, shall soon create a sea, 
In whose bloody waves I'll wash my murdered daughter, 



ACT III: SCENE I. 97 

Mine and her own dishonor snowy white ! 
Aye, blood alone can blot out honor's stain, 
And were it black as hell, yea, dark as night, 
Blood only cleanses honor snowy white. 
{The scene shifts now without the dropping of curtain. 
Julian seems to walk towards the tents of the Moors, 
which are coining closer to the front, when a large 
tent fills out the whole scene. Julian steps around the 
wings of the tent, the front of the tent is parted and 
around a fire are seated or reclining the principal 
chieftains of the Moors — Musa Ben Mosier, Taric of 
Tuerto, Hassan, other Chiefs — Officers, Dervishes, 
Attendants, etc. The Dervishes execute a dance, the 
strains of music giving the rytJim, if intended inter- 
changing with a ballet after it, and all attendants 
have withdrawn?! 

MusA. 
Stricken with ill-success, we meet to-night. 
The first blow aimed at those infidels 
Has proved unfortunate, for their arm is strong 
And mighty weighs their leader's arm in battle. 
Should he invincible have carried us so far .-' 
Has Mahomet the Great renounced us — vanquished t 
What now is your opinion, mighty chieftains, 
Ye brethren in war, ye pillars of my power } 
Should we desist after this first attempt. 
Or should we tempt our arms a second time .-' 

Hassan. 
Worshipful master, behold my settled judgment : 
You know the love I bear to mortal fray, — 
The Frank is mighty in his strong position 



98 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

And in his victory gained but to-day. 
Down-hearted is your army, mighty chieftain. 
We always won our battles till to-day, and 
Unused reverses ever strike the hardest. 
Endanger not recklessly again your fortune, 
For if you fail again our prowess will be gone. 
The world is large, the nation here before us 
Is of harder metal than we've thus encountered. 

MUSA. 
My soul responds to thine. Remember, though, 
For greedy gain, list, we have ventured not 
Into this war — it is the war of Mahomet. 
His faith till now has stood pre-eminent. 
Could it prove faithless now to us believers .'' 

[Officer enters with Julian closely enrobed?) 
Officer. 
Behold, Ben Musa, here is an unworthy dog 
Which brings thee tidings ! 

{Julian throws off his robe and in doing so strikes the 
officer, so that he staggers back.) 

Hassan. 

By Allah's wrath, 
This is the leader of the enemy ! 

A Chief. 

Ha ! I know 

Those glittering eyes, alluring the unwary ! 

Another. 
Did he not kill my champion in arms ! 



ACT III: SCENE I. 99 

Another. 
I saw him, Musa, flying over the fields, 
To superhuman deeds of arms exhorting 
His wearied troops ! 

Another. 

At him before it is too late, 
Before the evil spirit shields his son ! 

All. 
At him, he must die ! 

Musa. 

Stay, hasty sirs. 
Is not Musa's tent a sacred stay for his guest .-* 
Is hospitality his empty word } 
And has it lost its own respect with you .'' 
What willst thou enemy in our own midst, 
Why dost thou prowl around and at this night .'' 

Julian. 
Willst thou, Ben Musa, conquer yonder land .'' 
Bewitchingly it stretches forth before thee. 
But careful Earth shelters well her favorite child ! 
If thou art willing, here I am, thy man. 
I'll pave the way for thee and these grave chiefs 
Which you may tread to lead to victory. 
I am the chieftain of these warlike Goths, 
Their king I might say — none besides myself 
Will they in all their actions recognize. 
I am their Father. — They call me Father Julian. 
To your batallions shall be contiguous 
My own, myself, if thou dost hear my prayer, 



100 COUi\T JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Which simple must appear and without envy. 
United as one we enter Hispania's realm, 
Perdition carrying before us, annihilating 
Our common enemy from sea to sea. 
Your enemy beyond he is effeminate, 
And profligacy has spoiled once valiant arms. 
They are not those whom you harshly felt 
When I engaged your numerous troops in battle, 
And whipped you even in hand to hand encounter. 
Thou foughtest with bravery against such odds. 
Nor do I wish to wound thee by this praise. 
Nay, only to prove that I am fully able 
To redeem all promises which I may make. 
iyMiisa rises and wants to speak.) 
Take heed, Ben Musa, I pray thee silence yet. 
But little longer shall I detain you, sir. 
This victory, ye sirs, which I have gained. 
Instead of causing corrupting and heavy loss. 
Shall turn its fertile scale upon your side. 
For when I've joined you I shall wear yet awhile 
A double-faced mask, and will despatch. 
Together with the news of my success, 
A doubled-tongued message to the king 
To send more armament and ready soldiers. 
If he this war's continuance has at heart. 
This shall despoil him of his ample reserves, 
No army can oppose our victorious march, 
And Spain shall lay barehanded at your feet. 
For all this aid naught seeks my busy mind 
But what is trivial, worthless in your eyes. 
Nor gold nor title, neither land nor honor. 
But what I shall have — must — the king alive ! 



ACT III: SCENE J. lOi 

Him will I catch — I must : and with these hands 

I'll catch his carcass to gaud me on his death. 

This only boon, I pray thee, give to me. 

As a bone well worn thou throwest to a dog, 

For he has heaped upon me villainy, 

In covering all I once did love with mire, 

That I am driven on, must seek revenge — 

The only balsam for my tortured mind. 

MUSA. 

What guarantee to us, thou disbeliever. 
That we may trust thee in this dark adventure ? 
Truth shows thy face, but often subtly hides 
Deceitfulness beneath this glittering shield. 
Who knows but thou may'st lead us in decoy. 
Which cunningly ensnares us in destruction ? 
Truly, I believe thine army doth thy bidding 
Even more willingly than it doth thy king's. 
It shows his confidence misplaced, if he 
Entrusts such army to a fickle mind. 
Ambition is a spur to startling deeds, 
But you, who even shun'st the spark of gain. 
What caused this suddenchange in thy affection. 
That whom to-day you upheld with your life 
To-night wouldst hurl into a hell of misery.^ 

Julian. 

How darest thou doubt my candid, sacred word .-• 
Has not the king destroyed my honest name, 
God's greatest boon for man to idolize .-' 
Has the cur not thrown the dregs of degradation 
Upon my spotless self and all my kin, 



102 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Stamping at once me a pestful, shunned dog ? 
How can a cloud encircle yet thy reason, 
Or hast thou never felt direful revenge's 
Heart-rending stab, which made thee quiver, 
In agony, with poisonous ambition ? 
Such is my deadly mind against my king. 
But to overthrow, destroy, uproot him, 
Him and his kin, to wipe them from the earth, 
Then will my bones rest in their blissful sleep. 

MUSA. 
I cannot give, for well expounded reasons, 
Fulfillment to thy plan — it is not clear ! 
Thou must substantiate to us thy cause. 
Why thou seced'st from thy king and from thy faith ! 
Or dost thou think this quickly intended act 
Stamps thee a bearer of truthfulness at once .'* 
No, mighty chief, in any other need 
Might I as willingly believed thee truthful, 
But when thou comest so full of treachery 
Against thy king, who trusted thee his all — 

When from thy faith, when from thine God 

{Julian interrupting.') 

Julian. 

Spare me, 

Oh ! spare me, Musa, to unveil to thee 

My own dishonor, this infinite disgrace. 

If a manly heart thou knowest to worship, 

A man who lived above reproachful cause, 

Who never was assailed by misery, 

Has carried proudly his head for sixty summers, 

And now by a villain's cowardly act is hurled 



ACT in. • SCENE I. 108 

Down, in the dust, from his own self-esteem. . . 
I will to pillar further your good opinion 
Forswear my Faith, my God, my Church outright, 
Embrace thy Faith, Mahomet and thy Allah, 
But do withhold this dagger from my soul I 
Do not unveil what I have harbored here ! 
Thou art a father, too ! Let me worship this 
Within my breast, the most sacred of my life. 
Upon my death my lips shall then reveal it. 

MUSA. 
Quickly does change the chameleon its color : 
So alter crafty men their worshipped Faith. 
It is an outward vestment of their form. 
And every change of fortune changes it. 

Julian. 
Now if it must be — Agnes, be it told 
What drives my loyal heart to treachery 
And makes me seek this dire, yet dear, revenge. 
Well did I think to hide this fiendish outrage. 
But thoughts give way to well-wrought moral pressure : 
From all the world in this heart's deepest depths. 
And only Death should have told it for her glory ! 
But for advancement of my revenge stream forth 
Ye cause of misery, ye mirth to friends, 
And wring compassion from thine enemies. 
I claimed a daughter once, but yesterday — 
A dear, beloved image of my spouse. 
Who with her death confirmed my only child. 
God took my wife, to mar my boundless joy. 
She trusted to me this jewel set in grief! 
To her I promised, in oft remembered words, 



104 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

To shield its life, its virtue, with my own. 

And as I spake, so I redeemed my pledge. 

The little angel grew up in loveliness, 

Which children only transplant into womanhood. 

She was my only joy, my life, my all ; 

And when she fostered well and womanly, 

Developing into beauty, grace and virtue, 

Adorned with gentleness, which only virgins plead. 

Then couldst thou not find a father in this world 

Who happier could pass his happy hours. 

My heart rejoiced, aye, in her innocence ; 

How it delighted at her dainty joys, 

And her modesty — outshone .... 

But how can I 
Describe to you this angel, while she lived ! 
Be it quickly finished, if 'tis in my power. 
When I then ventured into this luckless war, 
Whose darkened end I could not penetrate, 
And to my king — nay, to my trusty queen — 
The dearest treasure on this earth entrusted, 
Entangled by him, in his slippery tongue, 
Then did he under my persuaded absence 

Outrage — myself, my kin — in 

{He makes an attempt to speak, but cannot^ 

Master of Hell, 
Hast thou no blush before such villainy } — 
It is in vain to tell thee of this grief. 
Which bids defiance to my all, my honor. 
Which carried in its trail my daughter's death — 
It will not pass the pride-curled lips of my mouth ; 
They cannot hang so flat, so like a serf's, 



ACT III: SCENE I. 106 

And give egress to such insulting speech. 
If thou wilt permit, I will exemplify it. 
Shouldst thou be father of a lovely daughter, 
Whose very heart reclined within thine own, 
Thy Sultan, utterly immoral, devoid of heart. 
Should use your daughter for his passionate lust, 
Degrade thee by his hellish knavery, 
And she, forced to her fate, should suicide. 
Would not Revenge, this e'er blood-thirsty fury, 
In her secure retreat, the recesses of thy heart. 
Set quaffing your harmless blood, and gluttoned 
Spew it forth again terribly transformed 
To molten lead full ever raging fire. 
Would rush it along your living, endless veins, 
And always returning, never resting, scorch thee, 
Aye, poison the quiet of thy immortal soul. 
Would it not tear thee on with whirlwind speed, 
Till thou atoned, redeemed thy Satanic curse 
In accord with the principles of Hell ? 

MUSA. 
Well mayest thou know my answer, injured man, 
And listen to my end — if in your stead. 
Allah is great, would I exclaim submissive ; 
My sultan has the right to pick such flowers 
As line his path ; and whatever one he thinks 
So beautiful as to grace his sacred bosom. 
It is his right to pluck that honored flower. 
He is Mahomet's proxy, bless him Allah. 
Great pity — nay, more — madness would it seem 
What led my daughter's reason thus astray, 
To find there shame, where others would feel favored. 



106 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

And to destroy this blessing by her death. 
{Julian, who has been standing as if astounded, sud- 
denly breaks forth.) 

Julian. 

Ye miscreant ! 

{He springs towards Musa ; the Chiefs also surround 
Musa, as if to shield, and officer takes hold of Julian 
with scimeter, ready to strike him down.) 
{Demurely.) 
But nay, I came to pray 
For help, in this my sorrow, not to scorn ye ! 
{Musa motions to his chiefs and the officer to be seated.) 

Musa. 

Restrain thyself! 

( To the chiefs.) 
Ye, mind ! he is my guest. 
{To Julian.) 
You might have cause regretting thy distemper ! 
What is your verdict, judges of this court ^ 

{To Julian.) 
They shall deal justly with thee, pleading sir ! 

Hassan. 
Thou hast expressed my mind. 

Chief. 

It is unwise 
To take for granted every traitor's tale. 

Musa. 
What is thy memento, Taric the Taciturn, 
Who ever deigns to keep that to himself 



ACT III: SCENE 1. 107 

Which others speak, but thou dost calmly ripen ? 
Whence will thy judgment sway us, worthy son, 
Whose arm is life unto my daring plans, 
And who has formed them oft, whenever clouds 
Ambiguous overshadowed our own foresight ? 
Well would I love to please this mighty lord, 
But caution only tempers daring deeds. 

Taric. 
Thou ask'st me, master, be it, I'll unfold 
To thee my counsel and my ripe suggestions ; 
Yes, your own prudence be declared the judge 
If rashness singed its wings and my good will. 
Methinks this Frank has opened to us his heart ; 
And well embraced his language every thought. 
His highest wish, to which his soul is able. 
The lie can never borrow such-like form 
Of simple speech ; it enters whence it came. 
The ever-changing manner of his mien 
Followed too truly his all-impassioned words. 
Alike the shadows shifting with the sun. 
His cause for treason is well founded, if 
I might believe a slave, a trusty giaour. 
From whom I learned, in passing weary time, 
The manner and the customs of these Franks, 
And mightily they differ from our own. 
"That sacred holds the father his daughter's honor 
Against the power even of his king. 
And her dishonor brands him alike dishonored. 
Death must receive her in his silent wedlock. 
Whilst he has to avenge her unto death, 
To rest her unatoned and wandering manes." 



108 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Just as the flax finch hangs his feathered limbs 
Over the nest once many winged and joyous, 
When treachery has carried off his brood. 

A Chief. 
I beg thy lief to verify his statement. 
Many a time I've heard it from my slaves, 
Which makes me judge this Frank with less sever'ty ; 
But this stake is too grave to warrant boldness. 

Taric. 
But boldness only opens Fortune's hand. 
It wrests from her the daring, glorious fruit, 
Which often, it is said, deceives the eye. 
And hidden bears within of evil plenty ; 
But mostly it is golden to the kernel. 
And falls a happy lot to champions bold. 
But, worthy brethren, what has conquered me. 
To find here truth, where all of you see doubt .-* — 
And doubt is but the weaker twin of falsehood, 
Gave me an utterance, an oracle, 
Which once a dervish spake, whilst I as yet 
In Arabia's plain, my sainted, native land, 
Was herding sheep to gain my daily bread. 
Oft during midday's overheated term. 
In palmy shade, would I then ponder, youthlike, 
Cementing fancy into my future Lay — 
As presently a shriveled imp appeared, 
Whose advent had not smote my wakeful ears, 
And had deceived a dog's instinct and watch. 
He took my palm, which pillared my head, 
Into his bony hand without his askance. 
And with an eye of judgment for these lines 



ACT HI: SCENE I. 109 

He read astounding prophesies to me. 

Yea, hardly could I bear his glaring mien, 

Which held mine eyes entranced and dazzled fixed. 

Filled with emotion, they closed instinctively ; 

The head it dropped upon the heaving breast. 

And when, with prying look, my eyelids raised, 

Vanished it had, only one symbol showed, 

That sleep had not enticed my sleepless reason, 

This leaping sword lay gleaming in my lap. 

A moaning heard I quiver through the leaves. 

Was it sighing of Pan, the shepherd's God, 

In vain claiming the son, who changed his calling.'* 

Aye, so it came to pass as he had spoken. 

But for the greatest promise I am waiting — 

Fulfillment yet of this my highest ambition 

I still abide, because he prophesied 

If I in horrors of war could steel my heart, 

I should enroll for Mahomet a kingdom 

Which Mother Earth holds as her favorite child. 

I went to war ! The countless martial scars. 

The time-appeased and hardened tongues of wounds. 

May well explain my bravery and exploit. 

And whether my master raised for flattery. 

To be a chieftain, I amongst you all. 

This kingdom lies before you. I behold the vision, 

I recognize it, aye, though years have passed. 

It is this Spain which Allah bade me conquer. 

Allah is great. His greatness is my aim ! 

All. 
Allah is great, Mahomet is his prophet. 
{Taric, who has advanced into the center of the council 
chamber^ 



no COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Taric. 
And now our part has come. To pluck this flower 
From disbelievers' bosom it is our duty. 
Therefore we help this Frank, this renegade, 
Achieve his wish, accomplish our own aims. 
For it is Allah's will, His blessed gift. 

All. 
Allah is great, our blessing left His hands. 
Taric {moving towards Musd). 
Dispel your doubts, my wise protector, now. 
Brush them away from your thoughtful front ! Take 

heed ! 
Throw not thyself into the spokes of Fate, 
Which, onward striding, must destroy thee, sire, 
If thou wouldst wish to shift its fatal road. 

( Taric kneels before Musa?) 
Let my troops move on, supported by thy blessing. 
In my heart's core I feel the prophet's words, 
They stand in burning letters before mine eyes : 
" Thine is success, fly forth, thou art my missile." 
[Several chiefs kneel with Taric ; Musa placing his 
hands upo?i Taric' s forehead.) 

MusA. 
Depart, my son, my blessing be with thee ! 
Great trials wait for my anointed chief. 
My own son, he shall be thy willing captain, 
To show the faith I bear to your worthy task. 
Allah be praised, thy mission comes from Him. 

All. 
Allah il Allah, Mahomet is His prophet. 



ACT III: SCENE I. Ill 

MuSA {to Juliari). 
This is thy hero, he has conquered me. 

Julian {to Taric). 
I greet thee King of Spain, henceforth my liege. 
Give me this hand, to which many a brave 
I saw succumb to-day in the thickest of battle. 
The future stands ahead you in brightest colors. 
Ye heavens, my revenge, omnipotent, 
Without its peer in times even yet unborn. 

MUSA. 
Remember, infidel, thy easy promise. 
Fulfill it now, renounce thy Christian faith, 
Embrace the truth, which Mahomet proclaimed. 

Julian. 
Behold this dagger, well behold its form ! 
{He holds up a dagger whose handle is in the shape of 

across ; he throws it to the ground and tramples 

upon it.) 
So falls the Faith of all my former life. 
Yea, everything else lies low on which I trusted. 
Everything else has lied but my revenge. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT IV. 

SCENE I. 



A spacious hall in the Kings palace ; KiNG RODERICK ; 
afterwards, QuEEN, OPPAS, COURTIERS and 
Court Ladies. Soldiers arid Citizens. 



King (apparently dozvncast). 
Is it then true, my brother Athaulf dead ? 
This dreadful message ; is my last hope vanished ? 
My brother no more — his sons perished in battle 
Against these pagans, against the barbarous Moors ! 
Grasped he by Fate ? Hurled with his army 
Into the jaws of Death ! Ho ! where is Julian — 
Avaunt ! — where is his prowess ! Am I alone 
Then left to mourn, bemoan this warlike nation ! 
Where are ye, his intrepid, seared legions, 
Flushed with victory? They are wasted, vanished, 
Like a dancing phantom when closely met by light ! 
Did I not rob myself of all my storage 
To fill his greedy demands ? Did I not despatch 
The horses, men, the shields, the swords and lances. 
And all that prospers war ? Lo ! did he fall 
A trifle begot by Fate, unheard from — lost ? 

{Af using awhile.) 
Or has he learned of her death, his daughter's end ? 
They told me that this Tajo's turbulent waves 
Had swallowed her. — Her paramour ! — Avaunt ! 



ACT I V: SCENE I. 113 

How could this message have travelled to Algesiras ? 

Nobody knew her end but my silent self ! — 

Delator, trusty soul, he sleeps in Death. 

Away ! — it cannot be ! — Or is it Fate : 

That to these Moors from heaven is predicted 

My throne, my country, and this healthful people ? 

No ! Hear me, ye Gods ! Aye, if ye dare such thoughts 

To weigh in mind, to give unto such jackals 

This land of Christendom, my Christian Goths, 

By Alarick ! you shall find me at my post ! 

The Moors shall falter, mark ye — aye, should my death 

If need be prove the honor of this oath 

{Op pas. Queen, Courtiers, People enter, ivho form 
the background?) 

Now hearken to this, my last imperial order. 

Ye all must catch it to obey it well. 

The armorers shall now collect forthwith. 

And death be the just lot of every master 

Who shirks this holy call. Eh, they shall forge 

All war-material — the stalwart armor, swords. 

The shield's well-guarding shape, cut and thrust firm, 

The weighty shafted lance, poised and keen, 

The bow's far-carrying power and its missile, 

And last, for hand to hand, the pliant sword. 

Those double-handled, ever-angry weapons, 

To do this Pyrrhic dance in proper justice ! 

A helping hand shall give you unto these masters, 

If young or silvery aged — no sex excepted. 

All, every one, if they the strength command, 

And, where this strength seems lacking, use the whip ' 

The iron you take, the metal wherever found — 



114 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

No place be sacred, no use too high for swords. 
An equal rule to horses — all my subjects 
Who can bear arms, they be compelled unless 
Their patriotism prompts their own desire. 
Death or to slay this pagan enemy — 
This be our motto, for it is Fatherland, 
It is the faith of Christ which calls our arm. 
Off! Send my messengers, our country is at stake. 
The magnates of my state be my ready echo. 
They shall hither repair, to swell, with all their bonds- 
men, 
My angry army. Tell them this sacred order. 
We must undo what carelessness has fostered. 
Then off, a-horse and foot, off at the Moors ! 
Their greedy conquering fit we'll soon dispel, 
Strong as we are in our forefathers' glory, 
In our holy faith, and in our blessed homes. 

People. 
Hail to our king, long life to him and glory ! 

Soldiers. 
His courage won for us what we possess. 
And our own blood shall shield his glorious reign ! 

King. 
To each give them this word, to spur them on. 
I gave to you your happy homes and hearths. 
And now I call on you to help me shield them. 

People. 

Hail to our king, his courage leads us on ! 
{Exit people?) 



act iv: scene i. 115 

King. 

Now, Oppas, the wild excitement it is spreading ! 

Thou art the treasure of my doubtful kingdom. 

You shall enjoy my signal grace forever 

When ended is this most unfortunate war, 

For near it lies to us — the grand decision. 

The hostile forces are but a few days' travel 

From our capital. They're subverting, laying waste, 

With fire and sword, my finely cultured plains. 

Wherever a church uprears its sacred steeple 

It raiseth but their mania for destruction. 

Ha ! on my own, on our united power 

They shall dissolve, these pagan, vagrant hordes. 

Just like a wave breaks on a roughened lea 

After it's travelled for many a distant mile 

Without a hindrance, for similar forces only 

Had interposed redoubled yet its bent : 

Thus terribly shall smite them retribution, 

What they in Spain committed, all these misdeeds; 

They shall now drench— aye, to its lowest dregs. 

Oppas. 
Bravely you said it, here my hand, my liege. 

Queen. 
My lord and husband, pause me but a moment. 
Well do I know a wife dares never follow 
The husband into battle, where his duty. 
Sublime and patriotic, calls his arm. 
But in my breast there sleeps a softened longing, 
Which firmly bids me follow thee unto danger, 
To behold thee in this struggle against our foe. 



116 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Then allow me with you, although my nature can not, 
Nor dare I wish to kill with these my hands. 
Too womanly — oh, say not cowardly — doth beat 
My yielding heart, impulsive but to love ! 
And yet my hands may spend of blessings many : 
They may anoint the painful, gashing wounds, 
Those deeply plowed and blood-uprooting furrows. 
Furrowed by sharpening steel, with healing balm. 
And there, where science is at rest — there may 
A praying look, a marked cross of the hand 
Spend solace yet, this all-forgetting angel. 
And may refresh the dying for their journey. 

Oppas. 
The queen speaks wisely, and her heart is noble ! 
This self-forgetful love must move thee, liege. 
'Tis not a woman's province, nor she intended 
To try in turmoil of war her chastened hand. 
To skill a martial prowess, though formerly 
There lived a nation of such unheard-of practice. 
But highly priced to warriors in distress 
Appears the easing touch of woman's hands : 
They do allay oppressive, burning wounds ; 
And if in prayer folded, held towards God, 
They are a blessed comfort to the dying. 
Let all our wives and daughters move with us. 
"A nation at war, no backwards tracing motive," 
Be our great motto against this Antichrist ! 
They shall supplant to you a thousandfold 
The necessary armament, their number 
And quality, you will not feel the loss. 
Women will multiply their husbands' bravery. 



ACT IV: SCENE I. 117 

Our young men, under the eyes of their beloved, 
Endorsed by them, shall rise to deeds of valor 
Never before aspired to in war, 
Compete in gigantic strifes, aye, throw themselves 
Into the midst of the foe with desperation. 
The women will withhold that cowardice 
Which ofttimes creeps into the best of soldiers 
In spite of courage, corrupts the best of armor. 
For armor oft shields cowards — Amor, never ! 

King. 

Then will we have once more these tournaments. 
Where, before his lady love, under her eyes, 
The knight but asks to shed his willing blood. 
Proclaim, Egilona, to all the wives and virgins. 
Thy timely intercession, bid them haste. 

{Egilona and Oppas remain ; exit all and King) 

Egilona. 
It is thy intercession, my confessor. 
My warmest thanks ! I have gained my loved wish. 
Thy benediction, father. 

{She kneels.) 

It will give me strength 
To bear this toil and trial to the end. 

{Oppas blesses the Queen) 

CURTAIN. 



118 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

SCENE II. 

Julian seated in his tent ; afterwards, Taric, GEN- 
ERALS and Attendants. 

Julian. 
Septus ! 

{Septus enters.) 

Septus. 
Here, my master. 

Julian. 

Fill up the glass ! 
Leave some wine here and beget yourself to rest — 
But tell Arminius to keep a good lookout ; 
The night is hazy, friends and enemies 
Might in the darkness be taken amiss at best. 

{He drinks j exit servant^ 
It was well done, this battle, it is won, 
His brother sleeps amongst his sons, 
Dead on the field of battle. But yester eve 
Gleeful they were — now swept by the scythe of Death. 
A heavenly harvest indeed to ease my misery. 
But few have reached their home to tell the tale. 
Aye, daughter, it is thine, it is our revenge's 
First winning step towards its sacred end, 
Just like a child atottering learns to walk 
Before its stronger limbs permit of strides ; 
The baptizement of fire and blood is past. 
Ho, there ! 

{Taric enters.) 



act iv: scene ii. 119 

Taric. 
Here Taric. 

Julian. 

Be welcome, brother, 
Thrice welcome on this victory you've gained, 
You fought it well. 

Taric. 

Help might have bettered yet 
Even certain triumph 

Julian. 

Taric, yes — it might ! 
You were sufficient to cope with all these troops 
So hastily collected, so badly generaled, 
But when the king approacheth, then 

Taric. 

Ha ! ha ! 
You thought yourself, your army, too good to cope 
To help my soldiers. Are you too good, my lord, 
Too brilliant a general, thy troops too precious, 
To fight our mutual foe, and side by side } 

Julian. 
Mistake me not, I mean they were not needed. 

Taric. 
Did you, when edging us into this venture, — 
Did you then say : "My troops they are not needed }" 
You meant a different thing from what you said ! 

Julian. 
Taric, by the Gods above us ! you mistake me. 



120 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGR A. 

Trample me not thus, verily you know me better. 
You know my maddened self 

Taric. 

Pshaw, maddened ! 
Do I or did I ever fear a man, 
Especially him who deigns to tell me this 
And meaneth that ? Am I a peevish child ? 
Where are thy promises of actual help. 
By which thou fooledst me into this enterprise ? 

Julian. 
Fooled thee, Taric ? Did I hear aright ? 

Taric. 
Aye, fooled I mean, I did not say, my brother. 

Julian. 
Hold ! By my daughter's spirit, by thy life. 
Dare not ! Thou child — my Agnes — hear it. 
Thy manes yet await to be revenged. 
Fooled and lied he says, and does not mean, 
" My brother." — Oh, hang it, Taric, unto death 
Should I pursue this, thine insulting speech. 
But for my oath compelling me to stop. 
Rouse me no more 

Taric {laughing). 

You start my merriment. 
Though to my grievance it is as much ill-fitted 
As hell to heaven. Thyoath keeps thee, thy vengeance. 
You merry me, to execute it thus. 

Julian. 
Gods ! must I suffer this } For thee, my child, 



ACT TV: SCENE 11. 121 

Thy old father branded a liar and a coward ? 
See how I love thy call, revere thy death, 
To know not how to strike. 

Taric. 

You are wretched already, 
Half sick of your compact and of my wishes ! 
Did I not send to thee before this battle, 
Which forced I, to commence for immediate help, 
To come at least with two thousand of thy men, 
And didst thou come ? No, but a sneering message, 
It came, conveying to me thy high opinion : 
" You will be able without me to slay these hot-heads," 
Meaning, methinks, if thy men fall in battle 
They grieve me not, as long 

Julian. 

Hear me, Taric, 
You lay a wrong construction to my answer ; 
But I see, you trust me not 

Taric. 

Aye, trust to him 
Who deserveth trust. Did I not send to thee, 
Whilst mightily balanced battle and success. 
And didst thou come ? What if I had succumbing, 
Yet struggled to the last, who would have given me 
Assurance that thou wouldst taken part, as promised ? — 
Redeemed me, my men ! By Allah ! by his prophet ! 
Thus you have served me. Would I have served you thus? 

Julian. 
Believe me, Taric, I knew you fully able 



128 count julian de consiegra. 

Taric. 

Did I not send to you ? Or did I send 
To a boy to do an errand, who sullenly 
Refuses to list ? — I sent to thee for help, 
Thou gavest me thrashy praise : Aye, in its stead 
I could have commanded ! 

Julian. 

No ! — by the Gods ! — no ! 
" Commanded " would I never — not for my soul ; 
Assisted I would have — helped you 

Taric {sneeringly). 

You wish 
Me to obey, to whip our foe whenever 
It suits your imperial highness, or when thou 
Dost think him weak enough for my obedient 
And so decrepid forces (with a low reverence) — my 
king, I suppose ! 

Julian. 

Heavens above us ! Agnes, now stay by me, 

That I resist this idle, worthless tempting. 

Mistrusted yet — a coward — called a liar, 

And have to bear it ; is it a vile dream ? 

Taric, thou cuttest me into my very soul. 

Heart-rending is the dagger of mistrust ; 

But proof it is, to name a man a coward, 

If he resents not. Have mercy on me, Taric ! 

For he who would have soiled me thus and thought 

He lived would have belied himself. 



act iv: scene ii. 123 

Taric. 

Tush ! talk 
No more — talk to Arminius or to thy soldiers, 
But speak not thus to me. Leave me better all to my- 
self, for I would rather fight thee 
Than find thee womanish 

Julian {absent-minded-like). 

This speaketh Taric, 
Who has befriended me by word and deed 
Before he knew me ? 

Taric. 

Alas ! 'tis through mistakes 
Man grows experienced. 

Julian. 

List to me 

Taric. 

No more — 
No other clue could thy behavior show me. 
I even feared that Musa judged thee rightly ; 
And when I turn it in my mind, methinks : 
Trustworthy art thou not — aye, pity the word. 
I spake in thy defence, when thine 

Julian {interrupting). 

Hold! Taric. 
For by the Gods ! my temper is brimful. 
No more, or by St. Paul my wrath may lead me 
Where thou and I art sorry ! Have not my country 

Taric {interrupting). 
He threatens still 



124 count julian de consiegra. 

Julian. 
Avast ! Have I not doffed it 
To court thy purpose, if for my revenge it was not ? 
Is my intent less clear to you than then, 
When but a moment had passed betwixt ourselves ? 
Have I not guided you, pointed well your will ? 
Have I not taken all these forts, their stores, 
And armed and fed thy host ? Am I yet doubtful 
Under whatever chances ? — A lying scoundrel ? 
Ha ! by my soul, if this revenge would not 
Thus bias myself — my honor and my word — 
I'd leave thee to the dogs to plod 
Along as best thou might'st 

Taric. 
Julian, go — you are free ! . . . 

Julian. 

Have I not guarded thee with all the pain 

A man can take to shield his own brother. 

And sent my feelers out to clear thy way ? — 

Aye, catch thee soldiers, forage, horses, arms ! 

Did I not warn you in time of the advance 

Of this army,ascertained its numbers, its general ? 

Has my advice been naught — the disposition 

Of troops and plan of battle — and yet not mean 

What I say ? Oh, ye Gods above me, alas ! ye have 

Worsted me well, to believe my revenge almighty ! 

My load is overloaded, my hopes are blasted. 

Here, if you want my life (he bares his breast and 

pushes a dagger in Taric's hand) — then plunge 

this dagger 



ACT IV: SCENE JI. 125 

Into my heart — there you'll find nobler blood 
Than you expected. 

Taric {throws the dagger away). 

Tush ! this is childish pretext. 
Thy life is naught to me, I wanted thy help 

Julian. 
Could I have given it thine would it have been. 
Hear me ! — Nay, hear those who have shaped thy 
anger ! 

{He calls ^ 

Arminius, Fiscus, Lotan, come, make haste ! 

{Enter officers.') 

{To Arminius.) 
Would you have fought against these Goths to-day 
Headed by Athaulf ? Give me an open answer. 

Arminius. 
No, Father, neither would my men have obeyed me. 

Julian, 
And you, Lotan, Fiscus, speak ! 

Lotan. 

We could not — 
They are our brethren — but if against the king. 
Against his army, thou wilst lead us on. 
Who hold you thus compelled and honor bound 
To revenge thy child, then there would not remain 
One living drop of blood to mourn defeat. 

Fiscus. 
He speaks the feelings which I bear to you. 



126 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Forgive us, Father, if we have marked you with doubt. 

But thus our army feels and all your chiefs 

{Julian waves his hand ; exit all) 

Julian. 
And had I cared to tell you their conclusion, 
And dared I stir them except you were in danger ? 
My soldiers are a family of braves. 
Their head I am, and I respect their voice. 
Could I have told you this, I know thee fully, 
Thy ever suspicious cast, it has haunted me 
Forever in my sleep, and whilst I waked. 
And had I said, before this battle began, 
My army will obey not, when I asked them 
To aid thee against this Athaulf, then wouldst thou 
Have beaten backwards thy steps and left the field. 
And thence I'm called a traitor, called a coward. 
And thrown to me this doggerel word of 

Taric. 

Hold ! 
I did not say this much 

Julian. 

You meant the same 

Taric. 
Tt might have different been 

Julian. 



What, Taric }- 



Taric. 
This meeting, had I known. 



act iv: scens ii. 127 

Julian, 



So ill-deserved 

Strike in, my brother. 



Thou didst me wrong, 

Taric. 
But here is my begging hand, 



Julian. 
With all my heart ! 

Taric. 
I have erred, but let me pray thine 

Julian. 

Stop, ask not 
My pardon, Taric ; it ill-becomes a man this 
To accept, for it humiliates the giver. 
A noble man knows to forgive and lists not ! — 
You will not doubt again ? 

Taric. 

Never ! Julian. 
Come to my heart, my great and noble hero — 
Great both in constancy and to forgive. 
And to forgive is greater than to battle. 
My people's faults predominate in me. 
Their nature to distrust — it pains me often — 
But never shall it reign again my temper. 

Julian. 
And every fibre of thy self is man. 
You have to bear it out even in those faults 
So innate to thy people. Henceforth shall I, 
Whenever words ensue and naughty speech — 



128 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Then will I think : my Taric, poor soul, he lends 

Again a willing ear to his natural bent. 

It is his people's tongue which speaks through him. 

Taric. 
Aye, Julian, and I shall ever remember 
The noble restraint you placed upon yourself. 
And imitate thee, to be myself as noble. 

Julian. 
This trial has proven us towards each other. 
Thy heart is noble, Taric, thy head is hasty. 
Good night to you, my liege. 

Taric. 

Good night, my brother. 
{Exit Taric ^ 

Julian. 



Septus ! 



{Enter Septus.) 
Septus. 



Master. 



Julian. 
Haste to Arminius forthwith 
To be in wait about to-morrow's march. 
Let Fiscus' army lead, he is to follow. 
Whilst I with Loftan close our marching columns. 

{Exit Septus.) 
On every single night my ending thoughts 
Are sent to thee, my daughter, so to-night. 
More so to-day ! — I felt thy influence. 



ACT IV: SCENE II. 129 

Thou art hovering about me on thy wings. 

How farest thou ? Thou must feel satisfied. 

You see me struggling along as fast as can 

Through insults, ill-success and hardships. 

This only makes me love thy cause the better. 

So like this child the mother loveth best 

Which greatest been in pain and most in sorrow. 

Myself, my all is— Ha ! What ! A spirit !— 

My child ! — the spirit of my murdered daughter ! 

Spirit. 
I am — father — dreadfully pains me this stop. 
I come to bid thee comfort ; yet onward help me. 
I cannot rest — aye, shifting hither, thither — 
This is my fate till thou hast me revenged. 
Waver thou not in thy imperious duty, 
For but to-day I cooled thy fiery temper ; 
Naught else ; my father, strike him, kill him only, 
That I may live in glory above the clouds. 
I'll see thee on the plains of Aquilas. 

{The spirit appears to vanish.) 

Julian. 
Stay a moment. Will I succeed .? 

{Julian kneeling) 

Spirit. 

Haste thee, father ! 

{Spirit raises its hatid and vanishes) 



CURTAIN. 



130 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

SCENE III. 

The King alone in his tent ; afterwards, BiSHOP 
Ulphilas. 

King. 
At last we have the enemy face to face — 
Two heavy clouds, pregnant with anxious thunder, 
Which, towering against each other, mean 
Either to clear 'way, or, both well matched. 
To grind themselves to nothing, to dissolve ; 
Whence the one has issued none will ever know. 
Or whether both have been will be a story 
Which, told at wintry eve, will cause a shudder 
To run the listeners through with dreadful awe. 
Whether equal our might or not, swelling us on, 
Will only tell the end, its certain judgment. 
But is this ground, whereon I weather, firm .'' 
It grips me always as if shameful treason, 
The parent of annihilation, dwells 
Beneath me already, abiding to show his face. 
Will it come true, this writing in the temple 

Of Hercules i* — Am I to the Moors at random 

{Bishop UlpJiilas enters?) 
Most worthy father, the burden of my sins 
They pray confession. Before the morning dawns, 
Which rouseth me to bloody, uncertain battle. 
Whether a hostile or a friendly missile 
May find its true or erring aim within me 
I know not ; nor whether the barbarous Moor 
Conquers the land which I, in direful battling, 
Secured hold for the fold of our religion. 



1 



ACT IV: SCENE III. 131 

This cruel blow my nature ne'er could bear. 
I never can be conquered and yet live ; 
Then give me absolution, thou, His servant. 

Ulphilas. 
Remember, my son, before His almighty throne, 
Who caused all these worlds, we are naught but dust 
Compared with Him. He is Eternity. 
For years and ever years are but His moment. 
One does not seem, if the highest be his station. 
In higher favor ; he must be righteous also. 
Let arrogance entangle not thy conscience. 
Which, royal on earth, must childlike come to Him. 
Great is His love, which He conferred upon us 
And which He promised mortals till end of time, 
In this our present act full of symbol-nature. — 
My son it will clear you from every sin. 
If but thy heart doth speak through humble lips 
In lowliness, just as a child would hasten, 
If sore at heart, off to his loved father 
And beg forgiveness, to seek relief. — 
Smooth from your immortal soul these sinful folds, 
Which, by their darkness, keep you from His light. 
Give me now thy confession without restraint. 
And firmly promise to reform thy life in future. 
And He'll forgive, through his beloved Son, 
Your grevious sins, if numberless wicked. 
{The king kneels, folding his hands before his face.) 

King. 
When I, intent to conquer this heath'nish Spain, 
Evaded me the king at that time reigning, — 



132 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Hardly had I destroyed him in the last encounter 

When he, with aptness which challenges admiration, 

Assailed me again so fatal to our future. 

Then offered me his service an Iberian, 

To kill the heathen provided I would grant him 

The golden merit to ease his hardy task. 

Thus fell Witiza, the enemy of my church. — 

Dear father claim not that I, for my own self, 

That my ambition sought this doubtful act, 

Nor that I, bad at heart, had hugged this chance. 

No ! — The iron necessity compelled me. 

My life, the life of my subjects or his, thus shaped 

A dreadful circumstance this eager question. 

Who would not dare to save his life, his children. 

If he the handle holds within his grasp t — 

Aye, would the wrong be greater not to use it .^ 

I gained this land from them for the church of Christ! . . 

And when the prayers of Agnes stormed my ear, 

When but to die away her cries for mercy 

Resounded, to spare her worshipped innocence. 

And she, wringing her hands, lay at my feet. 

Then had God's passion robbed me of myself. 

And I then robbed what begging would not yield. 

My worthy father I had never beheld a woman 

Who would not battle for her innocence — 

Yea, melted in tears and under piteous calls — 

Who would not care to give on first assault 

What she would like to lose at any price. 

I know the hearts of women, the pretence 

Is all that vibrates through their daily doings. 

Unmanageable lust clothed and covered 

By conventialism — this is their virtuous lie. 



ACT JV: SCENE III. 

Ulphilas. 
And is this all which constitutes thy guilt 



133 



Julian. 

Hark !— Of her suicide ! Could I foresee this ? 
Aye, I am blameless in this her foolish step. 
It was not my fault, her soul was overcast ! 

Ulphilas. 

You ask me to forgive these dreadful sins, 
Which you in insolence yet fail'st to own ? 
Thou seek'st to hush them over by their merit. 
Their consequence doth pose thee as His champion. 
How can you dare to carry on this speech 
Before the servant of the Almighty God ? 
Is not vile murder the greatest of all evil ? 
What end can reconcile it to His justice ! 
How could I pray for thee to the All-pure, 
Thou shameless robber of virtue, who yet dares 
To slander her, who dared to scorn thy offers, 
Whose body and soul in one, aye, thou didst murder ? 
Thou art by sweetness hardened of offence !— 
Before you can partake of this relief 
In dust and ashes you shall pray for mercy. 
{The king rising quickly) 

King. 

Ha ! Be it so, for blood be blood, 

To shame be shame and miserable death. 

You'll never see me sprawling in dust and ashes 



134 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Begging for mercy like a damned coward. 
I have acted as I found it for my thrift. 
List ! I shall wear its proper retribution. 
Proudly I'll die, if need, I have thus lived. 
Erect my head I'll carry unto my end. 
If Death doth wed defeat. I will never bend. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 135 

SCENE IV. 

{Scene : A tent.) 

Julian alone; afterwards, SEPTUS, Taric, the GOTHS 
and Moorish Generals ; then Oppas, Vitis- 
SEZ, Attendants, etc. 

Julian. 

Thank Heaven ! The crisis is at hand at last ! — 

The heavenly due to moist my feverish soul, 

To cool my heated brain — I feel its sweetness ! — 

Rest, ever rest from the turmoil of this life. — 

And yet a gross, indefinite oppression. 

An uncertain fear will chill this looked for joy. 

Is it I stand upon a single throw 

My all .'' Can doubt still mingle with my work, 

Which bids me live and bear unaltered grief? 

Armed to this fray the Goth he enters better 

Than my remotest wish could speed him on. 

Has he revived in his ancestral glory 

The former valor, stirred by impending struggle } 

Or have the Gods foresworn my good results, 

Because above their influence I held it .'' 

Nothing is there but the dread of ill-success. 

His life is warranted to me, his treachery 

Gives him to my revenge. The Gods have willed it. 

{Taking a letter from the table ^ 
These mysterious letters dropped here and there 
Within my tent so as to reach my hand } 

{Reading^ 
" Help will be near you where'er you need it most." 



136 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Where art thou, help ? Thy hour now has come. 
Come, and without delay. Or if thou will's 
Promised but not fulfilled to me appear, 
Then shall my own will prosper of itself. 

{Sep his enters.) 
Septus, thy wish ? 

Septus. 

Here is a letter, master, 
The messenger 

Julian. 

Leave him to tarry awhile ! 
Septus, our decisive end approacheth nigher. 
On morrow I feel we two shall have to part ! 
You served me well ! From whence you came to me 
I care not. Septus, take this, it be thine — 
A happy keepsake from an unhappy master — 
To keep thy future days in joy and comfort. 

Septus. 
Thanks, General, not I ! 

i^He refuses the purse.) 

Thou sayest I served thee well. 
I'll tell the messenger to wait awhile. 

Julian {opening the letter and looking- after Septus). 
A strange and unknown being to me, he loves me — 
Loves to be my servant '} — Strange affection ! 
Ha ! yet an ally. By the Gods ! Prince Oppas. 

{Reading.) 
He wishes to embrace our triumphant cause ! 
Yes, he be welcome, welcome to this feast, 



I 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 137 

At which the best blood of Christendom shall flow. 
Like the ocean's tide in vastness it shall flood. 
And, wading to our necks, aye, we can splash like fishes. 
And if we care to gulp the precious liquid 
There will be enough on hand to serve for sport. 

{Taric enters^ 
Here doth report to me an archbishop, 
A magnate of Spain, the mightiest in the realm, 
That he, disgusted with the king's misrule, 
Wisheth to link his fortunes unto thine. 
He apprehends our critical condition. 
For oscillating is success in war. 
Then does he ask his price : "to hold in tenure 
Astruria as unceasing, feudal ransom." 
He owns thrice fifty valiant bannerets. 
Obedient and true to his leading voice 
In all those questions where the right is doubtful. 
I know him well, an enemy of the king, 
Whose every individual plan he thwarted, 
Pernicious to his throne as well as life. 
List, Taric, use him ; you are fully aware 
That his deceiving numbers double themselves 
For us in gain, whilst they bring double loss 
To the power of the king ; thus double is the ratio 
In which our army grows ; and the king's doth dwindle. 
If his own troops secede. Be doubly anxious 
To gain this friend in need — concede his price ! 

Taric. 
You answer for him, Julian t 

Julian. 

With my head ! 



138 count julian de consiegra. 

Taric. 
Then send a message, brother, bid him come. 
{Exit Julian?) 

Taric. 
An archbishop an ally to us pagans, 
As such they name us in their conceited creed. 
He seems to pagans of rather spurious metal. 
He not alone ignores his daily bread — 
Nay, shifts his God to serve his villainous aim. 
Wise doth it not appear to me, the pagan. 
The Saracen, to claim such impious scoundrel, 
Rank him my brother in arms, divide with him — 
Nay, conquer for him — what Allah gave to me. 
This Christian dog may help me, nevertheless ; 
But after I am once proclaimed the king, 
When master I in Spain, then shall I prove, 
To all my friends and all my enemies. 
That my love goes not forth to traitorous hounds. 
Who sacrifice their God, their fatherland, 
For greedy gain, and care not what may happen. 
Allah, thy vision showed to me my work 
Completed, but dark you left the needful path ; 
Whether crooked or straight, you left it blank ; 
You only proffered me Thy gracious kindness, 
Without Thy wisdom. Then must I, weak in means, 
Fain steady myself on every roadside post 
Which bids to me fair sustenance, support. 
Though but assured with hasty, empty word. 
{Moorish and GotJiic officers enter and group themselves 

respectively ; seat themselves in a semicircle?) 
Welcome, my chiefs, I called you here to-night 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 139 

To weigh betwixt us the near and grave exploits. 
To-morrow we shall battle with this king. 
His army, numerous and well equipped, 
It lays against us. — Seat yourselves, my lords, 
And let me hear your apt and wholesome counsel. 
{They seat themselves ; Julian, Op pas and Vitissez 

enter?) 

Julian. 

Here stands the mightiest prince of mighty Spain, 

Who would to follow thy victorious flight. 

Lay wealth and blood at thy command, my liege ! 

And further sendeth Allah there as helpmates 

Vitissez, Witiza's son, with all his soldiers. 

Their strength to-morrow shall their value prove, 

For which as a boon they pray Astruria's plains 

And the meandering Tajo's upper course ; 

Thy lips proclaim to them their future homes ! 

Taric. 

Their prayer be granted. But tell me, mighty Prince, 
When shall thy warlike troops join ours ? Willst thou 
To-night yet quarter them with us } 

Oppas. 

My liege, 
But minutes have elapsed since I did leave 
The council of the king, with him assembled, 
His so supposed minions, to decide 
The plan of battle, as you have gathered here. 
Then might I turn his fixed conclusions easily 
Towards your good. I have listed well his wisdom, 



140 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

And know therefore to worth it well to you, 
Who shall henceforth call me an eager vassal, 
If it be thy pleasure ! 

Julian. 

Hear him, I pray thee, brother. 

Taric. 
Stay, when will thy army unite with my command ? 

Oppas. 
On to-morrow, during battle ! 

Taric. 

Why so late 1 

Oppas. 
I fear, my liege, if Roderick is led to know 
Of my secession he will not stand thee battle, 
But beating backwards his steps, destroying all 
Which may be needful to so large a host, 
Revictualling his strongest fortress, Toledo, 
Sending off all those not fitted for fight, 
He'll lay thus sheltered against immediate danger 
And bide his time, until his General Solis, 
Who in Astruria sleeps and whom my council 
Has fettered there, till he with his troops arrives, 
And then might critical appear thy now 
So easy victory. 

{Looking towards Julian?) 
And furthermore 
Shall the news of my secession and that Count Julian, 
His unheard-from forces, are joined with thine 
(Well hast thou hidden him, his troops from sight) 



I 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 141 

Shall strike him like the heaven's thunderbolt. 
Never he locked Time to judge the range 
The total sweep of his despotic ruling. 
Then will we give him not the Time to save, 
Perchance, his life and all his minions. 

Julian. 
Do say it, Taric ! 

Taric. 
Aye, it is well, proceed. 

Oppas. 
The battle in array, the armies waxing 
And wasting for the necessary command 
To rush into action, such is the basis now 
From which I start to plan thy victory. 
Your army is formed into three distinctive corps, 
Easy to shift and slide as time may prompt, 
And thus the king's is subdivided, of which 
I hold the right wing — whilst he himself commands 
The all-important centre, composed of knights, 
The very flower of his chivalry ; 
The left wing, leaning against the river, is made up 
Of raw recruits and all the hindering trash. 
Clogging an army, yet brought to make a show. 
Thus stands the king, and thus thyself! . . . 

And Julian 
There on thy side, behind thy very troops. 
Behind thy left wing lies Julian well concealed. 
Inactive amongst thy train, thy numerous tents— 
This be the disposition of his men. 
Then must thou give command to issue forth, 



142 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

But tardy, not too impulsive, move. 

Give me the time to execute my prudence ! — 

Half way the king will meet thy total advance, 

In double quickstep, to which I less eager respond, 

In order to disrupt my solid wing 

From the. impulsive, valiant centre of knights, 

Who, eager for the fray, will storm ahead. 

Thus will I form a sinister, widening gap. 

As does a snake coil in its onward toil, 

Forming a bend between two forward points. 

Thus stands the battle now, and thus our forces. 

The clash has met— the stun has spread ; recoiling. 

The powers move again and on, then give. 

Whilst noticing my slowness to obey 

My progress in it, then give command to thy left, 

Whose inner half composed of cavalry, 

To scatter on and back, to form a breach 

Exactly opposite my own, so preconcerted 

To be an inroad on which Julian 

May enter when he is called into action. 

'Tis done. Then send out three long-drawn bugle notes, 

Such as the trumpet wakes in powerful blast. 

And throw it over the field — it be the signal 

To call us at once into united concert. 

Then Julian, chained to chagrined idleness, 

Must break these chains chaining his restless troops, 

Rush madly on on his preformed road 

Through thy own severed ranks, along mine own 

Into the isolated from me disjointed 

Heart of the king's array : As an iron wedge 

Driven onwards bursts the log in twain. 

Alike a whirlwind hissing through a forest. 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 143 

Uprooting those which stand against his path, 

Avoiding these which stand aside in terror, 

And dashing thus on, under fresh and new impulses — 

Aye, striking direly the centre of the foe, 

Rending it apart — hurling — slaying — heigho — 

And crowding towards the left bring consternation, 

Terror amongst these ranks, whilst I, ready 

To act, swing round about, and, closing on 

To your remaining left, shoot like an arrow 

Pent up, but now let loose, across the field. 

Your centre and right swinging after me, 

Whilst you still hold your touch towards the river. 

Thus surrounding our foe we rush into his hot-hold 

From back, front, flank, and stepping o'er the dead, 

Wading through blood, we push, aye, onward still 

Till we meet Julian, who, in the enemy's midst 

Surrounded lays at bay and makes great havoc, 

Winneth the bloody laurel he deserves. 

Thus closed in on three sides, the river being fourth, 

A watery grave in its gurgling sweep for them, 

To us a guarding moat for thorough triumph. 

Slashing, slaying, giving quarter to no one. 

We'll hedge them in, turn them to flight, and slaughter 

Or sweep them to their graves and drown their last. 

Julian. 

Gods ! what a glorious fray. It is thy plan 

Of battle to destroy thy foe, my brother. 

To wipe them from this earth at one grand sweep. 

Oppas. 
I have submitted it and list thy judgment. 



144 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Taric {to Julian). 
This also is thy plan ? 

Julian. 

By the Gods ! Taric, yes ! 
Upon the death of my daughter, upon her shame, 
The holiest of my holies — I swear to thee, 
Upon my knees I grovel in the dust, 
The man is true. His plan of battle adopt. 
For this alone can win thee certain victory. 

Taric. 

There will be alterations yet 

Julian {interrupting). 

No, Taric, 
Here it is that conquers you this Spain ! 
Those living after thee will praise thy wisdom, 
For more it graces a man great in himself 
To recognize the greatness in his fellow : 
Confide ! — My arm and thought is ever awake. 
Trust to my revenge's so unshackled craving. 
Which dashes through my veins unsatisfied — 
(As yet it has relaxed not in practice) — 
Trust to thy vision, which Allah sent to thee, 
And trust to Destiny. It must come, and it will ! 

Taric. 

This is my plan of battle, I adopt it. 

And only this be added for its detail : 

I shall myself lead on the weaker left, 

Whilst thou, my worthy Harun, reign'st the centre. 

You, Hassan, be it your immediate aim 



ACT IV: SCENE IV. 145 

To bring the right wing into fearless action. 

Ben Ali, you'll command my cavalry, 

Which pertinent to my wing but for a time, 

To dash forward and back when so commanded. 

Then when our mutual sign, three long-drawn blasts, 

Sweep over the field of battle — then leave us, Ali, 

To emit Julian, who irresistibly sweeps, 

Dashes onward from this opening, which shall, 

Like a dragon's mouth, spew fire and terror 

Against our foe and huddle them with fear ; 

Then brave All's greedy but cunningly sneak, 

Like the jackal concealed by shrubbery and dust, 

Steal to the enemy's rear, sly as his nature. 

Who in Arabia ever reaps his comfort. 

Take everything which showeth any Avorth — 

Even women and children let not elude thy grasp ; 

As soon as guarded well thy fair-won prize 

Recur to us, alike the furious Simoon, 

And falling in there wherever you think best. 

Julian. 

Praise be to Allah and his chosen Chief! 

Mine be the king and yours shall be this Spain ! 

All. 
Thine be the king and ours shall be this Spain ! 
Praise be to Allah and his chosen Chief! 

CURTAIN. 



ACT V. 

SCENE I. 

{The plains of Aquilas, on the banks of the river Guad- 
elete. The crest of a hill ; to the left, a valley watered 
by this river ; to the right, mountaifts. The time — 
the break of day.) 



Egilona alone ; afterwards, COURT LADIES, the KiNG, 
Oppas, Ali, Septus, Julian, Vitissez, Spirit, etc. 



Egilona. 
The day breaks forth ! His rosy fingers pierce 
The nightly clouds, which close as yet his sight. 
The sudden gusts of wind, rushing, calmed, 
The timely servants of his steadfast coming, 
Break through, and, leaving the shadows wider still. 
Admit his royal power. It is day ! 
He will find a bloody outlook. With him riseth 
The battle, fettered yet by nightly rest ; 
With him the wakened doubts of all these mortals. 
How shall it end } . . . 

Thou only knowest its eve, 
Thou high Majestic Ruler, God above us. 
Allot to us Thy grace where maybe sin 
On our own part has scorned Thy blessed kindness, 
And punishment ordained must sparkle forth 



ACT V: SCENE I. 147 

From Thine pure, angry eyes as our just doom. 
Master of love, Thy love is boundless ever. 
As the heavens surrounding all that is, 
We know not whence they start nor where they end. 
Thy love is like the air, pervading all 
And nourishing Thy vast and different creatures : 
We are Thy children. Father, mercy— mercy ! 
Behold Thy church in danger wrapped in this war, 
And lost, if lost be ours at Thy hands. 
Try not to-day our constancy and faith, 
For too important is the sweeping course 
Of this young coming day. Do bless thy faithful. 
Save us, oh ! Saviour, from this heathen thraldom. 
{King enters^ 

King. 

Driven from balmy sleep, and by this vagueness 
Which dawning day bears in its hidden lap } 

Queen. 

Alas ! dear husband — my eyes they saw no sleep, 

For restlessly swept my lonely thoughts on afar, 

To pry into the future's darkened cell, 

Where closeted lays whatever comes to pass. 

Now did I, dozing in broken slumber, see you 

In fight with monsters — which hell alone can sport — 

Then beheld you warring with a grizzled something. 

Immortal, huge — inhuman, yet it bore 

Count Julian's features. Ha ! you wounded it, husband. 

And while this fight progresses and waxes hotter 

My view enlarges, so hideously peopled, and, 

Yes, there is Agnes, shaking those serpent locks, 



148 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

A fury's distorted face. — Alive with terrible 
And dreadful joy, it sneers in softening pity, 
Like some carcass with dreadfully distorted limbs, 
And yet a heavenly smile kissing its lips. 

[Bjirying her face into her hands for a moment^ 
And there you fall ! She vanishes slowly, slowly — 
Aye, softly melts she away into the air. 
Of which she woven does appear to me ! — 
And there again this clash, this quaking crash ! — 

{She throws herself on her knees and cries out :) 
Jesus, my Saviour ! 

King {stoops to her). 

Hush thee, Egilona. 
Queen. 
Thus on my knees found me the blessed morn. 
( The king raises her up j she is all tremblitig. The king 
seems also greatly agitated. Upon seeing this Egilona 
becomes suddenly quiet a?td says :) 
But husband, no, these all are lying phantoms. 
She can forbode me not a grevious ill, 
Poor child ; she loved me dearly while she lived. 
Poor soul, I pitied oft her early death. 
That I not able to assuage her end, 
Nor could I tend to the orphan's sacred grave. 
{King pondering ; then he throws back his head suddenly, 
looking around ; the day breaks over the hills) 

King. 
Behold ! there the hostile foes are moving. 
Soon will develop in its vent the battle. 
Bloody, decisive — the superior judge 



ACT V: SCENE I. 149 

Between two nations diverse in their customs, 
Apart in look, and differing in their faith. 
But see, our troops are also on the move. 
They tarry yet to receive my binding command, 
Be it to stay or be it to attack. 

Egilona. 

Husband, we must part, my lord, maybe forever ! 

Nor do I know whether thy powerful arm 

Will further guide and shield and thus embrace me. 

Nor can I be with thee, nor share thy danger. 

Alas ! to resign herself is woman's share 

To bear — her greatest fortitude of soul. 

King. 

And to prove this, allotteth Time to thee ! 
1 beg you grow calm, my ever welcome wife, 
Do throw aside this sorrow about the future. 

{The sun rises and everything illuminated?) 
The heavens smile upon us yet in joy. 
Long as we live will Sorrow turn from us 
Her dark and furrowed visage — I am thy lord ! — 
Egilona, duty calls me to hand over 
The sacred warrior-banner of the Goths, 
Which I and my ancestors bore as witness 
To countless victories of world-wide fame, 
Unto the bearer with the pregnant oath, 
To guard it against all danger through this battle 
With his own blood, if need, for this commands 
Our ancient rite in war, and this position's 
Well graded and most envied martial honor. 
This ceremony over, I'll return — 



150 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Till then bear witness and disperse thy emotion 

In this display of showy, thrilling motives. 

See ! — All looks fortunate, and Gothic valor 

Shall bring to pass what yet appears uncertain, 

Or we enact what is in store for us, 

And then we're naught but Fate's responding puppets. 

{Exit king ; enter court ladies ; they take their stand 

towards the left, while the queen keeps aside, agitated 

and looking on.) 

One. 

Look ye, the wavelike heaving it charms the eye, 
So lovely framed in joyous, laughing fields, 
Here bounded by the river, there the mountains' 
Full dark, uncertain lines, craggy, steep — 
Whilst there the vale stretches without an end 
Towards the sea, whose cooling breezes we feel — 
Its distance sweeps too far for mortal eye. 

Another. 

Ha, there ! The sudden change ! Our glorious army. 
Which since a moment's swift existence looked, 
Resembled the leaden ocean in calm. 
Like storm has the command dashed through its depths. 
And, crowding, ranting, surging to and fro. 
Congeals this heteron mass into definite forms. 

Another. 
Beating on its wings there rises and stands the standard ; 
Count Gaulus holds it ! See ! this daring horseman. 
The horse it rears 



ACT V: SCENE I. 151 

First. 

It feels the lofty burden, 



But he, the best of riders 

Second. 

Woe to us, 
He is thrown to the ground ! What this fall 

Egilona. 

Stop ye ! — Complete not this sentence of foolish augury. 
Blush you in shame to level your own country 
With the welfare of a brute ! Depend on it, 
You fell yourself — and with thee falls the brute ! 
Get thee hence, sham of a Goth ! For shame ! — 
Out of mine eyes ! — You are an idle Christian ! — 
There ! — the king now grasps it with his royal hand. 
And higher risen stands it in the breeze, 
For mighty strength alone can poise its shaft. 

Second. 

Forgive, my Queen, forgive the hasty word. 

My tongue did only liken it unto this, 

My heart is quite remote to lay such meaning 

Unto trifles, my mind was not at home. 

{She kisses the queen s hand ; the queen strokes her 
head. The king comes onto the stage in a tivo-wheeled 
chariot of Grecian design, and decorated with insignia 
of royalty. The zvomen draw apart, forming the back- 
ground; officers standing a little apart from the king, 
whilst Egilona draws nearer to him. The king dis- 
mounts. Officers stand in a half circle around king 
and queen)) 



162 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

King. 

The battle dawns, loose are set the furies 
Of dire destruction. To lead them back again 
Into their former cell, from whence they started. 
Is more than mortal power can convey. 
Though this small tributary river holds 
As yet their eagerness and checks my troops. 
But soon will we behold them hand to hand, 
For eager is the brave to measure bravery. 
Ha ! if the Saracen would let us overstep 
This watery width, then woos us victory. 
Yes, he is willed for us to shift this hindrance, 
And stands at rest. Ha ! ours is victory ! 

All Officers. 
Victory for us, for we shall gain the day ! 

King. 
We have gained the opposite, the Saracens 
They move so tardily, slowly, whilst our soldiers 
Rush on in quickstep. Why does not Oppas follow 
In like onslaught my self-arraying centre, 
Which moveth on alike in grand precision 
In a continuous line, as we commanded .' 
He will tear my battle march asunder ! There, 
They meet — ho ! see the mighty weight impelled 
By my dauntless knights, hurled back the glittering foe. 
And stunned he staggers, the hostile columns brake. 
The vile trash cannot bear it ! Huzza ! they fly ! 

{Three long-drawn bugle notes echo in the distance^ 
Victorious ! What is this } Count Julian ! 
His army in the enemy's hold against us t 



ACT V: SCENE I. 153 

My sword, my armor ! Haste thee ! — Cursed wretch, 
To break my centre ! — Haste, ye villains, hasten ? — 
My horse ! — And Oppas ! look ye — he swings around, 
Unites with the archfiend, he swings with them 
To gain my army's rear ! He throws himself 
Against my soldiers ! — 

{During this last part the king is being dressed in his 
armor, while looking towards the battle?) 

The hypocritic villain ! 
His slippery tongue ! He shakes the heathen's hand ! 
Ha ! ha ! on, Gerando, give him his deserts. 
And Julian there ! — thou grim and dreadful vengeance ! 
Ha ! but against him my bravery may falter. 
Rather the Devil himself! — My sword, you wretch ! — 
My horse ! Now retribution come — 
{He mounts his horse, throwing off his purple mantle 
and crown?) ( To the officers?) 

Off then ! 
Now on to the battle, and should it be the last! 
{The king and officers off.) 

Women. 
Fly ! fly ! the Saracen triumpheth. 

Egilona. 

Stay ye ! 
[Exit women.') 

Are you stark mad ^ Then be — and save your bodies. 

Your souls be cursed forever ! I alone 

Shall stay to nurse this child of my misfortune, 

" Defeat," on my milking breast ; oh, would it draw 

My life's own nourishment from me afflicted ! 



154 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

{Pointing^ 
There is the setting of my nation's glory. 
It gave me all my joys and all my fortune, 
Then will I not desert them for my hope, 
In this their last, their funeral-knelling hour. 
Ah ! they fight bravely for their wives and children, 
And even when betrayed they prove themselves 
Well worthy of their name : " The Valiant Goths." 
Is it but desperation ? — no, it is bravery ! 
For like the sun before he turns to rest 
Once more flames forth in all his brightest rays, 
Which even at his highest he could not rival. 
Before he steps into oblivion's grave 
(Though be it for a night and not eternity) 
Yet kisseth the earth he in loved, sweet adieu, 
Thus flasheth up once more the Gothic glory 
And Gothic bravery, which once the world. 
Aye, the horizon filled resplendently 
And warmed when at its highest hights. 
Before it steps to rest yet kisseth 
In former splendor once more the clammy front 
Of Mother Earth — and for eternity ! 
Oh ! there is he whom once I called my husband, 
Whom I so loved and who renounced me thus, 
He battles yet the bravest among the brave. 
No enemy dares to near the fatal circle 
Traced by his mighty sword around himself, 
Except he bears his life below its value. 
Alas ! I feel why ruined falls my people. 
What drove Count Julian to court the Moor. 

{Oppas enters and rushes toivards her.) 



ACT V: SCENE I. 156 

Oppas. 
And have I you at last, beloved woman, 
For whom I sacrificed whatever holy 
I hold — aye, honor, country, duty. 
All thrown before thy feet, myself no less ? 

{He kneels.) 
You shall in future shorten the lengthy days 
Which for mercy have passed me unbeloved. 

EGILONA. 
Back ye, ye dastard villain, back ye ! 
The curse of the church it stains thy very soul, 
The execration of a wholesome people 
Follow thy every step, it curses those 
Whom chance doth throw near you in close communion. 
Dare not to touch me ; on thee the wrath of God ! 
For sooner shall this dagger pierce my breast 
Than thou shalt throw thy miry arm around me. 
Shameless, despised wretch, thy proper boon 

It staggers hell ! 

{Oppas leaps at her and wrests the dagger from her 

hand.) 

Oppas. 

Now you are mine forever ! 
Enraged turtle dove now smooth thy feathers. 
Nothing can drag you from my passionate frenzy. 
And should the Evil one come forth he dares 
Not rob me of my highly valued prize. 
If not your own heart pledges yourself to me, 
Then shallst compelled thou be my valued toy 
(Thy former husband argued thus to Agnes), 



156 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

And cool this blaze so foolish, yet delightful, 
Which but thy beauty stirred and not my brain. 
{Ben AH enters with followers.) 

Egilona. 
Save me, oh, stranger, from this slimy snake, 
He doth enfurl me in his poisonous coiling, 
And ever grateful be my thanks to thee ! 

All 
Free thee this noble lady ! By Allah's wrath ! 
If thou obeyest me not this arrow shall. 
It always hunts in villains for their heart. 

Oppas. 
Forgetful boy, go on thy thieving way, 
I shall not prompt you to distrust me thus ! 
By your own life's joy, hence, despatch thy errand ! 
Prince Oppas I, even Taric prides himself 
To be my ally — haste thee, be on thy way 

All 
And I, the son of Musa Ibn Nosseyr, 
Detest thy treachery and all thy motives. 
Unhand this noble woman ! 

Oppas. 

Henve, beardless boy, 
Off! at thy sneaking trust, or by the Gods ! 

This sword shall teach you 

{AH shoots Oppas, who falls.) 

All 

Die, you villain ! 
No one will mourn thy death, but that too late. 



ACT V: SCENE I. 157 

EgilONA {kneeling). 
Thanks, on my knees, that you have liberated, 
Have wrenched me from the sinew of this man, 
Who pushed his will to meet his hellish ends 
Unvailed by sacrifice, who never worshipped 
A God except himself and his desires. 

All 
My mistress, let thy beauteous, heavenly eyes 
No longer dwell on yonder field of horror, 
Where hideous Death now eager counts his victims. 
Thine orbs are made to hold a fairer view. 
I'll lead thee hence unto a happier sight. 
{Exit queen, Ali and followers ; enter Septus, with 

her hair streaming down, showing that she is a 

woman ; also a servant.) 

Septus. 
Where are you, Oppas ? Everywhere I sought him. 
Oh ! here, my soul, my love ! — Killed ! — Mercy ! — Help ! 
Have I so long then served to find you here ? 
Oppas, my Oppas ! Wake, my husband, my lord ! — 
{Oppas opening his eyes, she raises his head on her arm.) 
Alas ! you wounded — where .'' 

Oppas. 

Get thee away — 
Be cursed thy womanish freak ! 

Septus. 

Oh, say not this ! 

Oppas. 
Accursed be all my toiling ! It was for naught ! 



158 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

(To Septus.) 
Go ye, be a servant, 'tis all you were made for ! — Off! — 
Gods ! — Stop those blabbing tears — leave me, 1 say ! 
Go on, you selfish wench ; my curses strike you ! 

Septus. 
Then die thrice cursed by me, and at my hand ! 
{She draws the arrow from his breast ; he sinks back) 

Oppas. 
God watches the right, and thus I am forsaken. 

{Dies ; exit Septus?) 
{Troops enter , fighting forward and back ; two maraud- 
ers enter.) 

One. 
Here is a happy grab. — Look ! the gold and silver. 

Other. 

And here, these diamonds ! — Off with him, we'll divide ! 

( They carry off the body of Oppas : the king rushes on 

the stage, looking around.) 

King. 
Treason ! — No one at hand of all my dogs ! — 
Help ! — Holloa ! — ye wretches, am I abandoned ? 
Even Death he shunned me, though I sought him well, 
Surrounded by the foe — 

{A detachment of Moors rush on the stage, but off zvhen 
they behold the king.) 

Ever pursued by him — 
By Julian— viciously panting for my life. 
His looks ! — I cannot bear his wronged visage ! 
Could not the fleet horse carry me yet awhile. 



ACT V: SCENE I. 159 

Yet further on, had it to jade just now ? 

Can I not flee from this decrepid man, 

Who magnifies my fears to nameless horror ? 

Shall then this Fate be emptied on my head 

Disclosed to me in the tower of Heracles, 

When Spain's dread future appalled my ready sight ? 

Was it a truth, no sham exploits of priests ? 

Ye Gods ! — No ! — not ye ! — I stand alone, resolved ! 

{Soldiers fleeing over the stage pursued by Moors, who, 

noticing the king, rush off.) 
Hold! Hold, ye cowards ! Stand, your king commands ! 
Off then, you trash ! Defeat has marred your senses ! 
Hark! there he comes, his steps draw nigh and nigher — 
My horse ! — a horse ! — my life's blood for a horse ! 
But to flee from him, not to hold his fatal look. 
A horse ! — These steps they sound like the booming 

tongues, 
The manacles of destroying Destiny. 

Off then afoot 

{Julian enters ; the king going off.) 

Julian. 
Stand, you coward, stand ! 
{The king turns, staggering back ; stands with sword 
drarvn at rest, his eyes riveted on the ground, while 
Julian eyeing him and walking around him.) 
Ye heavens, thanks, I hold him at my mercy ! 
His skin is whole, wholesome this bag of blood, 
The only precious gift I worth of all. — 
( Walking around again) 
Thanks, Angels, Gods or Devils of revenge, 
Whoever may my thanks concern the most. 



160 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

He lives as yet, unharmed, without a scratch. 
Trembling scoundrel, tell me thy greatest deed, 
Which in committing thou filled to fullest brim, 
Which shaped the fate of thy land, thy own. thy 

kindred ? 
I'll solve it. Ha ! ha ! 

{^Laughing siiecringly.) 

An angel hast thou felled, 
My daughter you dishonored — yes, it is this shame 
You heaped upon me in this my daughter's end — 
This robbed thee of thy throne ; and hence thy power. 
Which thou forever thought'st established, 
Crumbled to ruins, it falls ! But list, not this only — 
Thy very kin shall never disgrace this world. 
For with thy roots thus falls thy pedigree ! 
I'll be the last of all the Visigoths ! — 
Look ye, Roderick, not in a darkened cell 
I now confront thee, like my ravished daughter — 
Weak, innocent girl. — 

{Cries out furiously}) 

Accursed dog, lay out and may 
The All-just damn thy damned immortal soul, 
For thy own blood shall moist this thirsty soil 
Before the sun will shade in yonder tree ! 
{Julian rushes at the king ; the king waving his hand.) 

King. 

Hold off! I am a knight. My right to speak 
I demand. Not you nor your treason dethrones me. 
Julian, you were the willing, mighty tool 
In Oppas' hands, he wielded thee and thou ! 



ACT V: SCENE I. 161 

Julian. 

Think you you can, with all impertinent lies, 

With borrowed speech, becalm those tameless flames 

Of greedy revenge — sprung from thy lustful valor ? 

Alike the fire which gives not way, though liquid 

To oil, but enhances it stronger still. 

Such influence does bear thy garrulous talk. 

Thy blood alone can quench these vengeful flames. 

Look you, this sword shall be thy headsman's axe. 

Look how it sparkles ; this is the sword of honor. 

You remember it well, you gave it once to me. 

When for this war I ventured — I have not used it. 

This relic of Saint Peter be thy damnation, 

Thus I have willed it in my most earnest hour. 

Thine be the first blood dampening its gleam. 

Discoloring red its marvellous edge, and then 

Dogs will I slay and mix thy blood with theirs ; 

And not a soul shall find its different vent. 

Lay out, you profligate wretch, it is thy life ! 

Now be a plaything to my lust and whim. 

{They fight for a time hastily ; the king is more on the 

defensive, while Julian rushes in too eager ; at last 

the king breaks Julians sword.') 

King. 

Ha ! you are mine ! 

{Julian throwing the hilt into the king's face >) 

Julian. 
Thou liest, it in thy throat ! 
( The king staggers ; Julian springs at him and stabs 
hint ; but, as the king stands at guard, he runs the 



162 COU.\T yUL/AN DE CONSIEGRA. 

kings sword throiigh himself, the positiojt of the 
kings sword allowing no other ivay for assault ; the 
king falls dead ; Jtilian staggers back, pressing his 
hand to his chest.) 
And am I thine ? 

{Crawling up to the kijig and looking at him.) 

Thanks, ye Gods, he is my spoil ! 
My oath it is redeemed, my revenge atoned ! 
Ye waves of the air, waft it towards my daughter : 
Her shame is expiated, mine honor pure, 
Her ravisher dead, and slaughtered fell his people. 
But is he dead ? Yes ! — 

{Rising.) 

Daughter, you are revenged ! 
Peaceful thy manes can wander to their home ! 
The misery I have caused, it doth not press me 
That miserly I did not shape my vengeance, 
For my paternal heart endowed it grandly. 
Did not his bastard deed create my actions ? — 
Like the fertile rain will bring forth vegetation 
In quickened growth, if not the soil be barren, 
Just as the thunderbolt will cause in swiftness 
The reverberating echo in its trail 

Through the pliant air — and nook and hills resound it. 
It is tooth for tooth ! Had only guilty blood — 
His own — been spilled to atone for the innocent, 
Then had atonement been a limping beggar ; 
And hence fell Spain, fell for her innocence ! 
Oh, heavens ! Death's longed-for pangs. Come, Death, 
I love thy calm embrace. 

{Removes his hands from his breast and falls.) 
My wishes are filled. 



ACT V: SCENE I. 163 

Like heaven's bliss it fills my inmost soul. — 

Ho, there ! Ah I you Vitissez — come, come quickly. 

Water — water give me, Hell is on fire 

Within my mouth and scorcheth my living tongue. 

{He drinks.) 
If thou thine own brother wishest to embrace. 
He lays at Algesiras. Ha ! the wretch, 
I have stabbed him, because, the coward, he could love 
My daughter and misered with the ready means 
I held for her atonement 

Vitissez. 

Great is to revenge, 
But thine fills me with horror ! 

Julian. 

Tush ! sweetened boy, 
Revenge has never poisoned thy harmless nature — 
Then could you never span this dreadful calling : 
The last and only wish is to revenge ! 
{Sinks, back exhaiisted ; one of Vitissez followers 
brings the crown of the king and others his body) 

Follower. 
Here is the king's carcass, Spain's royal crown, 
A happy omen for thy verdant future I 
{Vitissez accepting the crown, speaking to the king.) 

Vitissez. 
Great hast thou been, yet thy faults had spoiled thy 

greatness. 
For bravery was thy grain, but marred by insolence. 
And well the one was matched unto the other, 
So that thy labors have brought thee little renown. 



164 COUNT JULIAN DE CONSIEGRA. 

Throw him into the river, that the Moor 
May not dishonor his defenceless body, 
And Spaniards may not curse his sighted grave ! 
Leave Julian to the Moors, they are his allies. 
Into the mountains — 

{He places the crown on his head.) 

There is our future realm. 

Followers. 
Hail to our king, and may his future prosper ! 

Julian {rising on his elbows). 
Appear, my daughter, come near thy dying father. 
Thou wert and art my all, now stay by me. 
That I with thee may stroll, yet hand in hand, 
Into Eternity, to part no more ! — What ! — thou ! — my 

child !— 
{Agnes between two angels descending ; she holds a cross 

in her hands ^ 
Agnes ! — 

{When Agile s descends so far that she can reach Julian 
with the cross she holds it over him.) 
I am coming — 

{He kisses the cross.) 

Child ! 

CURTAIN. 

[finis.] 



JULIAN, 

COUNT DE CONSIEGRA; 



OR, 



THE LAST OF THE VISIGOTHS. 



TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS. 



By a. H O L L E N D E R. 



TRANSLATIONS RESERVED. 



PRESS OF 

THE CHEROUNY PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. 

17-87 Vandewater Street, New York. 

I 890. 



